University  of  California 


PARKMAN  CLUB  PUBLICATIONS 

Nos.  15-16 
MILWAUKEE,  Wis.,  May  11,  1897 


A   MOSES   OF   THE   MORMONS 

Strang's  City  of  Refuge  and  Island  Kingdom 
By   HKNRY   EX 


li 


Printed  for  the  Parkman  Club  by  Edward  Keogh 


KING   STRANG. 

(From  the  only  photograph  known  to  be  in  existence.) 


VA 


14 


YK/OilMJ    1  "=10  JKiKiAi! 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 


STRANG'S  CITY  OF  REFUGE  AT  VOREE  AND   His   KINGDOM 
ON  AN  ISLAND  IN  LAKE  MICHIGAN. 


Nestling  between  hills  east  of  the  city  of  La  Crosse  is  the 
pleasant  little  valley  known  as  Mormon  coulee.  Industrious 
Swiss  and  German  farmers,  who  rigidly  adhere  to  the  severe 
orthodoxy  of  the  Calvinistic  creed,  have  reared  on  its  wooded 
hillsides  and  beside  the  quiet  little  brook  that  meanders 
through,  their  comfortable  cabins  and  farmhouses.  Only  the 
name  of  the  coulee  and  a  few  crumbling  ruins  of  masonry 
remain  of  what  fifty  years  ago  was  a  flourishing  Mormon 
colony.1 

Half  a  century  ago  a  prosperous  community  of  2,000  per- 
sons inhabited  the  city  of  Voree,  on  the  edge  of  a  prairie  skirted 
by  White  river,  in  the  fertile  county  of  Walworth.  It  was  a 
stake  of  Zion,  heralded  to  fugitive  Mormons  as  a  city  of  refuge. 
To-day  the  site  of  this  city  of  promise  is  as  bare  as  if  its  soil  had 
never  borne  the  weight  of  human  habitation.2 


[1]  "Not  many  years  ago  the  buildings  erected  by  them  were  still 
standing,  among  which  a  lime-kiln  which  had  been  used  by  them  was  dis- 
covered."— "History  of  La  Crosse  County,"  p.  355. 

[2]  On  the  Old  Geneva  Road,  in  Walworth  County,  in  the  midst  of  a 
large  corn  field,  is  the  only  Mormon  church  in  Wisconsin.  The  worshipers 
who  congregate  there  belong  to  the  Iowa  Saints,  known  as  "Young 
Josephites."  They  abhor  both  the  Brighamite  and  Strangite  doctrines. 
The  church  is  situated  at  a  cross-roads,  almost  within  view  of  beautiful 
Geneva  Lake,  six  or  seven  miles  south  of  Elkhorn.  Glancing  to  the  four 
points  of  the  compass,  one  sees  great  fields  of  waving  corn,  interspersed 
here  and  there  with  a  strip  of  yellow  barley  glinting  in  the  sunlight,  or  a 
clump  of  trees  through  which  peers  a  substantial  looking  farmhouse.  The 
little  church  is  a  plain  building  with  belfry,  neatly  painted  white,  and  bear- 
ing on  a  tablet  above  the  wide  front  door  this  legend  in  raised  letters  of 
wood : 

LATTER   DAY   SAINTS'    CHURCH. 

Much  prejudice  exists  among  the  country  people  of  the  neighborhood 
against  the  forty  or  fifty  Mormons  who  attend  this  church.  Several  years 
ago  1  spent  a  few  days  in  the  vicinity,  for  the  purpose  of  .gathering  data 
relative  to  this  community.  I  was  told,  with  bated  breath,  several 


116  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

On  the  largest  island  of  the  Beaver  archipelago,  in  Lake 
Michigan,  there  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, a  community  of  several  thousand  Latter-Day  Saints. 
They  were  ruled  by  a  king  for  nearly  seven  years.  Of  his 
temple  and  his  so-called  castle,  the  only  vestiges  now  are  a  few 
splinters  in  the  collections  of  relic  hunters.  His  subjects  have 
been  scattered  far  and  wide,  and  ax  and  torch  long  ago  reduced 
their  habitations  to  heaps  of  cinders. 

In  the  busy  brain  of  James  Jesse  Strang  was  conceived  the 
scheme  of  founding  in  Wisconsin  an  empire  of  Latter-Day 
Saints.  When  the  great  exodus  from  Nauvoo  began,  he 
sought  to  turn  the  steps  of  the  wanderers  to  his  city  of  refuge 
at  Voree.  It  was  questionable  for  a  time  whether  he  or  Brig- 
ham  Young  would  triumph.  Other  pretenders  sought  to  don 
the  fallen  mantle  of  Joseph  Smith,  but  Brigham  Young  feared 
none  of  them  as  he  did  Strang.  In  the  end  the  dream  of  Strang 
faded  away,  and  his  life  paid  the  penalty  of  his  ambition.  His 
vast  plans  were  "dead  sea  fruit,  that  tempt  the  eye,  but  turn  to 
ashes  on  the  lips."3 

THE    MORMON    COULEE    SETTLEMENT. 

The  settlement  in  Mormon  coulee  had  but  brief  duration. 
When  the  Mormon  temple  at  Nauvoo  was  planned,  a  party  of 
Saints  ascended  the  Mississippi  to  obtain  lumber  for  the 
structure.  Doubtless  the  snug  little  valleys  behind  the  hills 
that  skirt  the  prairie  of  La  Crosse  tempted  them  to  there  plant 

instances  of  witchcraft  attributable  to  the  elder  of  the  community.  The 
narrators  evidently  believed  the  stories  implicitly,  the  grotesqueness  and 
impossibility  of  the  performances  alleged  to  have  occurred  scarcely 
paralleling  in  extent  the  credulity  of  the  country  folk. 

In  the  neighboring  village  of  Springfield  there  were,  at  the  time  of  my 
visit,  a  few  Mormons  who  used  the  schoolhouse  as  a  meeting  place.  When 
the  Saints  were  to  be  called  together,  the  clangor  of  the  school  bell 
apprised  them  of  the  fact.  Yielding  to  popular  pressure,  the  trustees  of 
the  school  had  the  bell  removed.  Thereupon  the  Mormons  expressed  their 
indignation  by  placarding  the  town  with  notices  of  their  meeting,  these 
words  appearing  in  large,  black  type:  "Curfew  must  not  ring  to-night." 

[3]  Scattered  throughout  the  peninsula  of  Door  County  and  adjacent 
islands,  and  also  in  the  counties  of  Rock,  Walworth  and  Racine,  loyal 
adherents  of  King  Strang  can  still  be  found.  They  cling  to  the  faith  he 
taught  them  with  unabated  devotion,  and  cherish  his  memory  with 
unwavering  loyalty. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS,  117 

an  isolated  stake  of  Zion.4  At  this  time  (1843)  the  prairie 
was  a  mere  trading  station,  and  its  rough  inhabitants  regarded 
the  Mormons  as  legitimate  prey.  There  were  frequent  colli- 
sions, due  in  part  to  the  rude  attentions  bestowed  upon  the 
Mormon  women  by  the  young  men  of  the  prairie.  One  night 
the  eastern  heavens  were  all  aglow.  The  Mormons  had 
secretly  constructed  rafts,  removed  their  belongings  to  them 
under  cover  of  night,  and  applied  the  torch  to  their  deserted 
homes.  Before  the  hostile  inhabitants  of  the  prairie  could 
intercept  or  molest  them,  their  rafts  had  floated  them  many 
miles  away  with  the  rapid  current  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  Mormon  coulee  settlement  was  governed  by  Elder 
Lyman  Wight,  who  later  became  an  aspirant  for  the  leadership 
of  the  Church.  Disappointed  in  his  ambition,  he  led  his  adher- 
ents to  Texas.5 

KING  STRANG'S  STRANGE  CAREER. 

So  closely  is  the  story  of  Mormonism  in  Wisconsin  and 
Michigan  associated  with  James  Strang,  that  its  recital  is  largely 
biographical.  Of  his  boyhood  little  is  known,  except  that  he 
was  studious  and  ambitious — and  likewise  eccentric.  After 
his  death  there  was  found  among  his  papers  the  fragments  of  an 
autobiography  covering  the  period  of  his  life  up  to  the  age 
of  12.  The  writing  comes  to  a  sudden  stop,  as  if  the  writer  had 
been  disturbed  and  had  never  cared,  or  perhaps  had  no  oppor- 
tunity, to  resume  the  story  of  his  life.  In  view  of  the  later 


[4]  While  en  route  for  the  copper  mines  of  Lake  Superior,  Alfred  Brun- 
son  of  Prairie  du  Chien  and  his  party  of  prospectors  came  to  the  Black 
River  in  May,  1842.  "We  found  the  Mormons  in  possession  getting  out 
timber  for  their  Nauvoo  temple;  to  them  and  to  our  company  I  preached 
the  first  gospel  sermon  ever  delivered  in  that  valley.  We  ferried  over 
Black  River  on  their  keel  boats,  except  the  cattle,  who  swam."— "History 
of  the  Chippewa  Valley,"  by  Thos.  E.  Randall,  p.  23. 

George  Z.  Heuston,  of  Winona,  informs  me,  on  the  authority  of  his 
father's  manuscript  history  of  Trempealeau  County,  that  about  that  same 
time  a  few  Mormon  families  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  the  modern  town  of 
Trempealeau,  at  a  place  called  Little  Tamarack,  but  they  did  not  remain 
long,  and  probably  joined  Lyman  Wight's  colony  at  La  Crosse. 

[5]  An  excellent  condensed  sketch  of  Lyman  Wight,  with  extracts 
from  his  journal,  appears  on  page  125  of  "The  Wights,  a  Record  of  Thomas 
Wight  of  Dedham  and  Medfield  and  of  His  Descendants,  1635-1896." 


118  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

career  of  this  strange  man,  the  fragment  is  interesting  as  giving 
an  insight  into  the  unusual  elements  that  tinctured  his  life  and 
fashioned  his  character.0 

"My  infancy  was  a  period  of  continual  sickness  and  extreme 
suffering,"  he  wrote,  "and  I  have  understood  that  at  one  time  I 
was  so  low  as  to  be  thought  dead,  and  that  preparations  were 
made  for  my  burial.  All  my  early  recollections  are  painful, 
and  at  this  day  I  am  utterly  unable  to  comprehend  the  feeling 
of  those  who  look  back  with  pleasure  on  their  infancy,  and 
regret  the  rapid  passing  away  of  childhood.  Till  I  had  children 
of  my  own,  happy  in  their  infantile  gambols,  the  recollection  of 
those  days  produced  a  creeping  sensation  akin  to  terror." 

It  was  the  claim  of  Strang  that  he  was  a  descendant  of 
Henry  de  PEstrange,  who  accompanied  the  Duke  of  York  on 
his  expedition  for  the  conquest  of  New  Amsterdam.  In  his 
autobiography  he  notes  that  his  father,  Clement  Strang,  was 
the  fifth  son  of  Gabriel  Strang.  Coming  originally  of  a 
Norman  stock,  "they  have  continually  intermarried  with  the 
Dutch  and  German  families  of  the  Hudson,  and  therefore  par- 
take more  of  the  German  type  than  any  other.  Counting  con- 
tinually in  the  male  line  for  ten  generations  back,  our  ancestors 
are  Jews,  but  so  large  is  the  admixture  of  other  blood  that  the 
Semitic  type  seems  to  be  quite  lost."7 

On  his  mother's  side,  Strang's  ancestry  was  of  the  purest 
Yankee  stock  from  Rhode  Island.  His  mother's  maiden  name 
was  James. 

On  a  farm  in  the  town  of  Scipio,  N.  Y.,  owned  by  his  father, 
James  Jesse  Strang  was  born  March  21,  1813.  He  was  but  3 
years  of  age  when  his  parents  removed  to  Hanover,  in  Cha- 
tauqua  county,  his  life  until  manhood  being  passed  there.  The 
meager  facilities  of  a  country  school  were  supplemented  by  a 

[6J  I  am  indebted  to  Chas.  J.  Strang,  of  Lansing,  Mich.,  son  of  King 
Strang,  for  a  copy  of  the  manuscript. 

[7]    See  autobiography,  appendix. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  119 

brief  term  at  Fredonia  Academy.  Such  details  of  his  life  at 
this  period  as  are  known  indicate  that  he  was  an  omniverous 
reader,  and  that  he  was  noted  for  a  remarkably  retentive  mem- 
ory. In  the  local  debating  clubs  he  vanquished  all  opponents. 
While  working  on  a  farm  he  borrowed  law  books  and  eagerly 
read  and  digested  them.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and 
began  to  practice  in  Mayville,  later  removing  to  Ellington.  He 
became  postmaster  there,  but  he  was  of  too  restless  a  spirit  to 
remain  long  in  one  place.  Although  married  shortly  after  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  began  a  roving  life,  going  from  one 
place  to  another  and  flitting  from  one  occupation  to  another 
without  particular  motive,  except  to  follow  the  bent  of  his 
nature.  He  taught  a  country  school,  edited  a  newspaper  at 
Randolph,  and  then  took  the  rostrum  as  a  temperance  lecturer. 
He  was  full  of  energy  and  ambition,  and  a  remarkably  ready 
and  effective  speaker. 

Strang's  wife  was  Mary  Perce.  Her  brother  resided  at 
Burlington,  in  Racine  county,  Wis.,  and  it  was  at  his  solicita- 
tion that  the  young  man  removed  to  this  state.  This  was  in 
1843.  Here  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  forming  a  partner- 
ship with  C.  P.  Barnes,  who  later  became  associated  as  a  prac- 
titioner with  Judge  Wm.  P.  Lyon.8 

In  the  year  following  his  removal  to  Wisconsin,  there  came 
to  Burlington  several  itinerant  missionaries  from  the  Mormon 
Church  at  Nauvoo,  seeking  proselytes.  Their  talk  appealed 
with  peculiar  fascination  to  the  temperament  of  Strang.  He 
threw  himself  heart  and  soul  into  the  movement.  It  was  a  field 
that  afforded  his  peculiar  talents  full  play.  Before  six  months 
had  expired,  Strang  had  developed  from  an  humble  convert  to 

[8]  Following"  incident,  told  the  writer  by  Judge  Lyon,  illustrates  the 
peculiar  bent  of  Strand's  mind:  "On  one  accasion  he  brought  a  suit  before 
me  (I  was  then  a  justice  of  the  peace)  to  recover  the  value  of  honey  which 
he  claimed  had  been  stolen  from  his  client's  apiary  by  the  thievish  bees  of 
a  neighbor.  Who  ever  heard  of  a  law  suit  based  on  such  grounds?  And  yet 
Strang-  conducted  the  case  with  great  shrewdness  and  made  a  most 
plausible  argument.  lie  was  continually  bringing  up  unexpected  points  in 
law  cases,  and  using  arguments  that  would  have  been  thought  of  by  no  one 
else.  I  think  he  liked  the  notoriety  that  resulted  from  that  sort  of  thing." 


120  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

the  self-styled  head  of  the  Church.  It  was  in  January,  1844, 
that  his  zeal  was  kindled.  He  visited  Nauvoo,  and  on  the  25th 
of  February  was  baptized  by  the  seer  Joseph  Smith  into  the 
communion  of  Latter-Day  Saints.  The  prophet  conceived  a 
great  regard  for  the  young  zealot  from  Wisconsin,  and  but  a 
week  after  baptism  Strang  had  been  made  an  elder  with  author- 
ity to  plant  a  stake  of  Zion  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
his  Wisconsin  home. 

With  restless  energy  and  marvelous  success,  Strang  began 
his  propaganda  and  laid  the  foundation  for  the  city  of  Voree. 
What  his  ideas  were  can  only  be  conjectured  in  the  light  of  his 
subsequent  dream  of  empire.  Intensely  ambitious  for  power, 
versed  in  the  arts  that  enable  leadership  of  men,  fired  with 
religious  fervor,  keenly  conscious  of  his  own  abilities,  the 
example  of  Joseph  Smith's  success  doubtless  inspired  him  with 
great  ambitions.9  He  saw  in  Smith  an  uneducated  man  who 
from  the  humblest  origin  became  in  the  course  of  but  a  few 
years  the  unchallenged  prophet  of  many  thousands  of  men  and 
women.10  The  possibilities  of  his  own  future  dazzled  him. 
Events  at  first  conspired  to  bring  to  immediate  realization  the 
dreams  of  Strang.  In  June  the  prophet  and  his  brother  Hyrum 
were  riddled  with  bullets  by  a  mob  at  Carthage,  in  the  state  of 
Illinois.  On  whom  should  the  mantle  fall  that  the  martyred 
seer  had  worn?  Many  sought  the  succession;  but  one  of  them 
possessed  the  energy  or  capacity  to  measure  weapons  for  more 
than  a  brief  period  with  the  masterful  craft  of  Brigham  Young. 
That  one  was  Strang.11  That  Young  feared  Strang  most 


[9]  "E.  D.  Howe,  in  his  valuable  work,  Mormonism  Unveiled  (Paines- 
ville,  O.,  1834),  presents  the  testimonials  of  eighty-one  persons,  neighbors 
and  acquaintances  of  the  Smith  family,  all  attesting  to  their  illiteracy  and 
generally  worthless  and  disreputable  character."— "The  Prophet  of  Pal- 
myra," p.  11. 

[10]  "Joseph  estimated  that,  in  the  various  quarters  of  the  earth  where 
his  religion  had  been  preached,  he  had  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
followers." — Remy  &  Brenchley's  "Journey  to  Great  Salt  Lake  City," 
Vol.  I,  p.  349. 

[11]  "Of  all  the  aspirants  he  (Strang)  was  the  only  one,  save  Brigham 
Young,  who  displayed  any  genuine  qualities  of  leadership."— Michigan 
Pioneer  and  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  XVIII,  p.  5. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  121 

is  attested  by  the  bitterness  with  which  in  pamphlets  and  in 
Mormon  newspapers  Strang  was  assailed,  while  the  other  pre- 
tenders were  almost  ignored  as  if  unworthy  of  notice. 

In  the  struggle  that  ensued  between  Brigham  Young  and 
James  Jesse  Strang,  the  former  had  all  the  advantage  of  an 
entrenched  position.  He  was  one  of  the  all-powerful  Council 
of  Twelve,  and  at  first  fed  the  enmity  of  his  colleagues  towards 
outside  aspirants  by  ingenuously  suggesting  to  each  individ- 
ually hopes  of  personal  aggrandizement.12  It  was  a  shrewd 
scheme  to  first  crush  outside  aspirants,  and  then  narrow  down 
rivalry  at  home  by  cajolery  or  intimidation  till  his  own  eleva- 
tion became  possible. 

Despite  the  hostility  of  the  combined  Council  of  Twelve,13 
Strang  made  a  vigorous  and  resourceful  campaign  to  secure 
the  prophetic  succession.  Joseph  Smith's  Nauvoo  followers 
had  not  recovered  from  the  shock  of  their  leader's  assassination 
before  Strang  was  in  their  midst  exhorting  them  to  follow  him 
to  the  city  of  promise  in  Wisconsin.  He  exhibited  a  letter  pur- 
porting to  have  been  written  by  the  seer  just  before  his  assassi- 
nation, prophesying  that  he  would  soon  wear  "the  double 
crown  of  martyr  and  king  in  a  heavenly  world,"  and  appointing 
James  Strang  as  his  successor: 

"And  now  behold  my  servant,  James  J.  Strang,  hath  come 
to  thee  from  far  for  truth  when  he  knew  it  not,  and  hath  not 


[12]  The  twelve  apostles,  after  the  death  of  the  prophet,  bestowed 
these  names  upon  each  other: 

Brigham  Young,  the  Lion  of  the  Lord. 

Heber  C.  Kimball.  the  Herald  of  Grace. 

Parley  P.  Pratt,  the  Archer  of  Paradise. 

Orson  Hyde,  the  Olive  Branch  of  Israel. 

Willard  Richards,  the  Keeper  of  the  Rolls. 

John  Taylor,  the  Champion  of  Right. 

William  Smith,  the  Patriarchal  Staff  of  Jacob. 

William  Woodruff,  the  Banner  of  the  Gospel. 

George  A.  Smith,  the  Entablature  of  Truth. 

Orson  Pratt,  the  Gauge  of  Philosophy. 

John  E.  Page,  the  Sundial. 

Lyman  Wight,  the  Wild  Ram  of  the  Mountains. 

[13]  Two  of  them — George  A.  Smith  and  John  E.  Page — subsequently 
enrolled  themselves  under  the  standard  of  Strang.  Their  names  frequently 
appear  in  the  conference  reports  published  in  the  Voree  Herald  and 
Northern  Islander. 


122  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

rejected  it,  but  had  faith  in  thee,  the  Shepherd  and  Stone  of 
Israel,  and  to  him'  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be,  for  he 
shall  plant  a  stake  of  Zion  in  Wisconsin,  and  I  will  establish  it; 
and  there  shall  my  people  have  peace  and  rest  and  shall  not  be 
moved,  for  it  shall  be  established  on  the  prairie  on  White  river, 
in  the  lands  of  Racine  and  Walworth ;  and  behold  my  servants 
James  and  Aaron  shall  plant  it,  for  I  have  given  them  wisdom, 
and  Daniel  shall  stand  in  his  lot  on  the  hill  beside  the  river  look- 
ing down  on  the  prairie,  and  shall  instruct  my  people  and  shall 
plead  with  them  face  to  face. 

"Behold  my  servant  James  shall  lengthen  the  cords  and 
strengthen  the  stakes  of  Zion,  and  my  servant  Aaron  shall  be 
his  counselor,  for  he  hath  wisdom  in  the  gospel  and  under- 
standeth  the  doctrines  and  erreth  not  therein. 

"And  I  will  have  a  house  built  unto  me  there  of  stone,  and 
there  will  I  show  myself  to  my  people  by  many  mighty  works, 
and  the  name  of  the  city  shall  be  called  Voree,  which  is,  being 
interpreted,  garden  of  peace;  for  there  shall  my  people  have 
peace  and  rest  and  wax  fat  and  pleasant  in  the  presence  of  their 
enemies. 

"But  I  will  again  stretch  out  my  arm  over  the  river  of 
waters,  and  on  the  banks  thereof  shall  the  house  of  my  choice 
be.  But  now  the  city  of  Voree  shall  be  a  stronghold  of  safety 
to  my  people,  and  they  that  are  faithful  and  obey  me,  I  will 
there  give  them  great  prosperity,  and  such  as  they  have  not  had 
before ;  and  unto  Voree  shall  be  the  gathering  of  my  people,  and 
there  shall  the  oppressed  flee  for  safety  and  none  shall  hurt  or 
molest  them."14 

The  Council  of  Twelve  made  a  furious  onslaught  on  the 
pretensions  of  Strang;  denounced  his  letter  as  a  forgery,  and 
threatened  with  the  thunders  of  the  Church  all  who  would 


[14]    Letter  of  Joseph   Smith   to   James   J.    Strang,    published   in  "The 
Diamond,"  p.  3. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  123 

uphold  the  pretender.15  The  Brighamites  started  the  story 
that  the  postmark  on  the  letter  was  black,  whereas  all  Nauvoo 
letters  were  stamped  in  red.  Strang  produced  the  letter  and 
showed  a  red  postmark.  He  claimed  that  the  letter  was 
received  at  Burlington  by  regular  course  of  mail,  through  the 
Chicago  distributing  office;  that  it  bore  the  Nauvoo  postmark 
of  June  19,  the  day  following  its  date,  and  that  C.  P.  Barnes,  a 
well-known  Burlington  lawyer,  took  the  letter  out  of  the  post- 
office  and  delivered  it  to  Strang  July  9.  It  was  also  claimed  by 
the  Brighamites  that  no  proper  entry  of  the  mailing  of  such  a 
letter  could  be  found  in  the  register  of  "mails  sent"  from 
Nauvoo.  When  it  was  sought  to  verify  Strang's  claim  that  the 
proper  entry  was  there,  the  register  had  mysteriously  dis- 
appeared. 

With  much  shrewdness,  the  Council  of  Twelve  spread 
abroad  among  the  people  the  doctrine  that  the  martyred 
prophet  could  have  no  successor,  and  their  united  opposition 
disposed  of  the  pretensions  of  several  claimants,  among  them 
Sidney  Rigdon,  Lyman  Wight  and  William  Smith.  The  most 
vigorous  claimant  was  Strang.  Fortified  with  the  letter  alleged 
to  have  been  sent  him  by  Joseph  Smith,  and  loudly  proclaiming 
its  genuineness  among  the  Nauvooites,  he  soon  gathered  a  con- 
siderable following.  The  twelve  apostles  summoned  a  confer- 
ence. With  much  force  and  logic  Strang  defended  his  position, 
citing  liberally  from  the  Bible,  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  the 
Book  of  Doctrines  and  Covenants.  The  apostles  contended 
that  no  man  could  assume  the  prophetic  succession  and  hold 
the  keys  of  authority  which  Joseph  had  obtained  from  the 
hands  of  angels.  Their  official  organs,  published  at  Nauvoo 
and  Liverpool,  had  before  this  proclaimed  in  no  uncertain 
words  the  doctrine  that  to  take  Joseph's  place  as  seer,  revelator 
and  prophet  was  mere  usurpation. 

[15]  The  columns  of  the  "Times  and  Seasons,"  published  at  Nauvoo, 
fairly  teem  with  denunciation  of  the  pretender,  Strang. 


124  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

"Let  no  man  presume  for  a  moment  his  place  will  be  filled 
by  another/'  were  the  words  reiterated  in  the  "Times  and  Sea- 
sons" and  in  the  "Millennial  Star,"  whose  columns  were  con- 
trolled by  the  twelve  and  their  abettors.  In  the  face  of  the  sen- 
timent thus  created,  Strang  made  a  hopeless  appeal  for  recog- 
nition. His  pretensions  were  rejected,  and  with  the  usual 
formulas  of  the  Church  ritual,  he  was  "given  over  to  the  buffet- 
ings  of  Satan." 

THE    CITY    OF    REFUGE. 

Strang  was  not  so  easily  disposed  of,  however.  With  a 
body  of  recusant  Mormons  whom  his  remarkable  powers  of 
oratory  had  attached  to  his  cause,  he  returned  to  Voree  and 
began  to  build  up  his  city  of  refuge,  prophesying  that  the  Mor- 
mons would  be  driven  from  Nauvoo  by  the  Lamanites,16  and 
that  then  the  words  of  Joseph  would  be  realized.  In  every 
detail  he  carried  out  the  policy  by  which  the  seer  Joseph  had 
appealed  to  his  followers.  He  pretended  to  have  revelations. 
These  he  transcribed  in  imitation  of  scriptural  language,  teem- 
ing with  vague  phrases  upon  which  he  placed  such  interpreta- 
tions as  were  needful  to  carry  out  his  immediate  purposes.  He 
organized  his  church  on  the  pattern  prescribed  by  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Mormon  faith,  with  a  council  of  twelve,  and 
quorums  of  elders  and  priests.  Over  all  of  them  he  exercised 
supreme  authority.  Like  Joseph,  when  schism  threatened  or 
murmurs  of  discontent  came  to  his  ears,  he  would  silence  all 
opposition  by  means  of  a  convenient  revelation.17 

[16]  According  to  the  "Book  of  Mormon,"  a  remnant  of  the  tribe  of 
Joseph  was  miraculousy  led  to  the  new  world  across  the  Pacific  Ocean 
(Book  of  Nephi),  and  separated  into  two  distinct  nations— Nephites  and 
Lamanites. 

"This  division  was  caused  by  a  certain  portion  of  them  being-  greatly 
persecuted,  because  of  their  righteousness,  by  the  remainder.  The  perse- 
cuted nation  migrated  toward  the  northern  parts  of  North  America, 
leaving  the  wicked  nation  in  possession  of  the  middle  and  southern  parts 
of  the  same.  The  former  were  called  Nephites,  being  led  by  a  prophet  who 
was  called  Nephi.  The  latter  were  called  Lamanites,  being  led  by  a  very 
wicked  man  whose  name  was  Laman."— Kidder's  "Mormonism  and  the 
Mormons."  p.  267. 

[17]  "Revelations  of  James  J.  Strang,"  collected  and  printed  in  pam- 
phlet form  by  Wingfield  Watson  after  the  death  of  Strang— now  an 
excessively  rare  pamphlet. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  125 

The  crowning  achievement,  and  one  which  disturbed  the 
authorities  at  Nauvoo  considerably,  was  the  finding  of  buried 
plates  near  the  city  of  Voree.  These  he  called  the  Plates  of 
Laban.  The  cabalistic  hieroglyphics  which  he  transcribed  by 
means  of  the  Urim  and  Thummim,18  were  claimed  by  him  to 
be  the  long-lost  Book  of  the  Law  of  the  Lord,  admirably  sup- 
plementing the  Book  of  Mormon  which  Joseph  Smith  had  in 
like  manner  translated  from  the  plates  dug  out  of  the  hill  of 
Cumorah,  in  the  state  of  New  York. 

None  of  these  artifices  were  original  with  Strang.  Joseph 
Smith  had  employed  them  all.  But  there  was  shrewd  method, 
rather  than  lack  of  originality,  in  this  imitation.  Doubtless 
Strang's  purpose  was  to  verify  his  pretension  that  the  prophetic 
succession  had  devolved  upon  himself.  In  no  manner  could  he 
have  appealed  more  forcibly  to  the  religious  delusion  enter- 
tained by  the  followers  of  Joseph  Smith. 

The  twelve  apostles  whom  he  sent  as  missionaries  to  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  elsewhere  in  the  east 
encountered  in  bitter  controversy  the  proselyting  agents  of 
Brigham  Young.  His  press  at  Voree  turned  out  thousands  of 
pamphlets  aiming  to  show  the  hollow  spuriousness  of  the  doc- 
trines enunciated  by  Brigham  Young's  followers.  The  Voree 
Herald  contained  as  bitter  tirades  against  them  as  did  the 
Nauvoo  Times  and  Seasons  against  himself.  He  displayed 
tremendous  energy  with  tongue  and  pen,  and  the  reports  of 
conferences  in  the  Voree  Herald  give  evidence  of  it.  The 
Liverpool  paper  published  by  the  Mormons  also  assailed 


[18]  The  Urim  and  Thummim  consisted,  according  to  the  statement  of 
Lucy  Smith,  mother  of  the  prophet,  of  two  transparent  stones,  clear  as 
crystals,  set  in  the  two  rims  of  a  bow. 

"Urim  and  Thummim  (Lights  and  Perfections).  These  were  the  sacred 
symbols  (worn  upon  the  breastplate  of  the  high  priest,  'upon  his  heart'), 
by  which  God  gave  oracular  responses  for  the  guidance  of  his  people  in 
temporal  matters.  What  they  were  is  unknown.  Some  scholars  suppose 
that  they  were  the  twelve  stones  of  the  breastplate;  others  that  they  were 
two  additional  stones  concealed  in  its  fold.  Josephus  adds  to  these  the  two 
sardonyx  buttons  worn  on  the  shoulders,  which,  he  says,  emitted  luminous 
rays  when  the  response  was  favorable;  but  the  precise  mode  in  which  the 
oracles  were  given  is  lost  in  obscurity."— "Glossary  of  Antiquities"  in 
Oxford  edition  of  the  Bible,  p.  150. 


126  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

Strang  with  great  bitterness.     These  are  the  headlines  of  an 
article  nearly  four  columns  in  length : 

SKETCHES  OF  NOTORIOUS  CHARACTERS. 

James  J.  Strang,  Successor  of  Sidney  Rigdon,  Judas 

Iscariot,   Cain  &   Co.,    Envoy   Extraordinary 

and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  His 

Most  Gracious  Majesty,  Lucifer 

the  I.,   etc.    [19] 

In  Philadelphia,  Aug.  30,  1846,  Strang  found  Orson  Hyde 
and  J.  Taylor,  two  of  his  old-time  opponents,  holding  meetings. 
He  challenged  them  to  a  public  debate  to  show  who  had  the 
best  authority  to  represent  the  true  Mormon  faith.  This  was 
the  answer  he  received:20 

SIR— After  Lucifer  was  cut  off  and  thrust  down  to  hell,  we  have  no 
knowledge  that  God  ever  condescended  to  investigate  the  subject  or  right 
of  authority  with  him. 

Your  case  has  been  disposed  of  by  the  authorities  of  the  church,  and 
being  satisfied  with  our  own  power  and  calling,  we  have  no  disposition  to 
ask  from  whence  yours  came.. 

Yours  respectfully, 

ORSON  HYDE, 
JOHN  TAYLOR. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  in  the  numerous  pamphlets  which 
he  scattered  broadcast,  and  in  his  newspaper  rejoinders,  Strang 
kept  his  temper  much  better  than  the  Nauvoo  disputants.  In 
his  pamphlet  called  "Prophetic  Controversy,"  he  sarcastically 
alludes  to  the  "saintly  spirit"  that  could  inspire  such  fulmina- 
tions  as  have  been  quoted;  but  his  failure  to  secure  recognition 
at  Nauvoo  rankled  deeply.  In  his  Gospel  Tract  No.  4,  wherein 
he  defends  "the  calling  of  James  J.  Strang  as  successor  to 
Joseph  Smith,"  this  serious  charge  is  made:21 

"Immediately  after  the  martyrdom  of  Joseph,  John  Taylor, 
Willard  Richards  and  William  W.  Phelps  took  a  kind  of  tem- 
porary direction  of  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  instructing  the 
saints  to  wait  patiently  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  assuring  them  that 
He  had  not  left  them  without  a  shepherd,  and  that  all  things 


[19]    "  Millennial  Star , "  Vol .  VIII ,  p .  12H . 

[20]    "Gospel  Herald,"  Vol.  I,  No.  8. 

[21]     "Gospel  Tract  No.  4,"  Voree,  Wis.,  1848,  p.  5. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  127 

» 

would  be  made  known  in  due  season.  To  every  question  of  the 
saints,  who  is  the  prophet,  replies  were  made  in  substance  that 
the  saints  would  know  in  due  season,  but  that  nothing  could  be 
done  till  the  Twelve  got  home,  because  the  appointment  of  a 
prophet  and  the  directions  for  salvation  of  the  Church  from  the 
perils  they  were  in  was  contained  in  sealed  packages  directed  to 
them.  Orson  Hyde  and  others  of  the  Twelve  who  were  then 
in  the  east,  stated  in  public  congregations  in  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia and  other  cities  that  Willard  Richards  had  written  to 
them  that  the  appointment  of  a  prophet  was  left  with  him  under 
seal  to  be  opened  on  the  return  of  the  Twelve.  This  assertion 
was  so  often  made  that  the  whole  Church  was  daily  expecting 
to  hear  a  new  prophet  proclaimed.  On  the  8th  of  August, 
1844,  when  Sidney  Rigdon  endeavored  to  obtain  authority  to 
lead  the  Church,  John  P.  Green,  marshal  of  the  city  of  Nauvoo, 
told  them  'they  need  not  trouble  themselves  about  it,  for 
Joseph  had  appointed  one  James  J.  Strang,  who  lived  up  north, 
to  stand  in  his  stead.'  The  sudden  death  of  John  P.  Green, 
immediately  after  this  declaration  (under  very  extraordinary 
circumstances),  left  Willard  Richards  and  John  Taylor  sole 
repositors  of  all  documents  on  this  subject,  except  this  letter. 
They  had  simply  to  suppress  documents  in  their  hands  to  set 
themselves  up  in  power,  or  overthrow  themselves  and  their 
pretensions  by  publishing  thenl." 

THE    GREAT    EXODUS. 

The  great  exodus  of  Mormons  across  the  Mississippi  and 
into  the  wilderness  of  the  west  began  early  in  February,  1846. 
Long  before  this,  however,  the  knot  had  been  tightening 
around  the  doomed  city  of  Nauvoo.  Every  man's  hand  was 
uplifted  against  the  Mormons,  and  conflicts  frequently  occurred 
between  the  Saints  and  their  neighbors  outside  the  fold. 
Strang's  prolific  press  at  Voree  turned  out  thousands  of  copies 
of  what  he  termed  "the  first  pastoral  letter  of  James,  the 


128 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 


Prophet."     It  bore  date  of  December  25,  1845,  and  concluded 
in  this  wise: 

"Let  not  my  call  to  you  be  vain.  The  destroyer  has  gone 
forth  among  you,  and  has  prevailed.  You  are  preparing  to 
resign  country  and  houses  and  lands  to  him.  Many  of  you  are 
about  to  leave  the  haunts  of  civilization  and  of  men  to  go  into 
an  unexplored  wilderness  among  savages,  and  in  trackless 
deserts,  to  seek  a  home  in  the  wilds  where  the  footprint  of  the 


STRANG'S  "CASTLE"  ON  BRAVER  ISLAND. 
(From  a  photograph  owned  by  Chas.  J.  Strang.) 

white  man  is  not  found.  The  voice  of  God  has  not  called  you 
to  this.  His  promise  has  not  gone  before  to  prepare  a  habita- 
tion for  you.  The  hearts  of  the  Lamanites  are  not  turned  unto 
you,  and  they  will  not  regard  you.  When  the  herd  comes,  the 
savages  shall  pursue.  The  cloud  which  surrounds  by  day  shall 
bewilder,  and  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night  shall  consume  and 
reveal  vou  to  the  destroyer. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  129 

"Let  the  oppressed  flee  for  safety  unto  Voree,  and  let  the 
gathering  of  the  people  be  there.  *  *  *  Let  the  filth  of 
Zion  be  cleansed,  and  her  garments  of  peace  put  on.  Let 
neither  gun  nor  sword  be  lifted  in  defiance,  nor  rest  be  taken 
upon  arm  of  flesh,  and  the  city  of  our  God  shall  be  saved,  and 
the  temple  of  His  holiness  be  unpolluted  by  the  hand  of  the 
Gentile." 

By  the  exodus  of  the  Brighamites  across  the  Mississippi, 
Strang's  colony  at  Voree  alone  remained  in  the  northwest  of 
the  thousands  who  had  embraced  the  faith  of  Joseph  Smith. 
Sidney  Rigdon  had  led  a  small  contingent  into  Pennsylvania; 
Lyman  Wight  a  few  followers  to  Texas ;  Smith  a  little  remnant 
to  a  corner  of  Illinois;  these  were  offshoots  that  came  to 
naught.  At  Voree  the  numbers  constantly  increased.  Mis- 
sionaries were  sent  to  the  east  to  seek  converts;  the  press 
turned  out  pamphlets  to  be  scattered  broadcast.  Regularly 
the  Voree  Herald  was  issued  for  distribution  among  the  faith- 
ful. Some  internal  dissensions  arose  from  time  to  time,  but 
Strang  easily  disposed  of  them.  The  minutes  of  one  of  the 
conferences  note  that  Lorenzo  Dow  Hickey  was  suspended  by 
the  prophet  James  for  "most  gross  lying  and  slander  upon 
Brother  G.  J.  Adams  and  Samuel  Graham,  and  neglecting  his 
mission  to  follow  after  the  diabolical  revelations  of  Increase 
McGee  Van  Dusen."  At  another  conference  the  apostasy  of 
John  E.  Page,  president  of  the  Twelve,  was  the  subject  of  com- 
ment, and  this  resolution  was  spread  upon  the  minutes: 

"Resolved,  That  we  deliver  him  over  to  the  buffetings  of 
Satan  until  he  repent." 

In  spite  of  occasional  backslidings,  the  city  of  Voree  grew 
and  flourished.  The  Saints  at  first  "met  in  a  grove,"  as  the  con- 
ference minutes  state,  but  a  splendid  temple  was  planned.  In  a 
letter  descriptive  of  the  edifice,  Geo.  J.  Adams  wrote  Aug.  27, 
1849: 


130  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

"The  temple  is  going  up  steadily  and  constantly,  and  a  most 
beautiful  structure  it  will  be  when  finished.  It  covers  two  and 
one-sixth  acres  of  ground,  has  twelve  towers,  and  the  great 
hall  200  feet  square  in  the  center.  The  entire  walls  are  eight 
feet  through,  the  floors  and  roofs  are  to  be  marble,  and  when 
finished  it  will  be  the  grandest  building  in  the  world.  The 
strong  Tower  of  Zion  is  being  erected  on  the  Hill  of  Promise, 
the  walls  of  which  are  three  or  four  feet  thick,  which  when  fin- 
ished is  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  order  of  Enoch  in  all  its 
beauty  and  fulness."22 

STRANG'S  KINGDOM  OF  ST.  JAMES. 

It  soon  became  apparent  to  Strang  that  the  same  condi- 
tions which  had  driven  the  Mormons  of  Nauvoo  to  a  trans- 
Mississippi  wilderness,  would  endanger  the  permanency  of  his 
colony  in  the  course  of  a  few  years.  For  the  growth  of  a  Mor- 
mon community  isolation  was  essential;  where  Gentile  influ- 
ences controlled  the  vicinage,  there  the  utter  annihilation  of 
Mormonism  was  but  a  question  of  time.  In  his  wanderings  he 
had  caught  a  glimpse  from  a  vessel's  deck  of  the  natural  beauty 
and  seeming  fruitfulness  of  a  cluster  of  islands  near  the  door 
that  divides  the  great  inland  seas  of  Huron  and  Michigan. 
Here  was  an  ideal  seat  of  power,  remote  from  the  obtrusiveness 
of  civil  officers  whose  view  of  laws  might  differ  from  his  own ; 
yet  not  so  distant  from  the  line  of  travel  as  to  render  profitable 
traffic  impossible.  The  waters  teemed  with  excellent  fish ;  the 
forests  would  furnish  an  abundance  of  most  excellent  timber; 
the  soil  needed  but  to  be  scratched  to  yield  in  multiplied 
plenty.  To  this  land  of  promise  could  he  lead  his  Saints,  and 
here  would  they  wax  fat  and  strong. 

If  this  was  Strang's  dream  of  empire,  as  subsequent  events 
indicated,  the  beginnings  were  indeed  humble.  He  is  author- 
itv  for  the  statement  that  he  fixed  on  the  islands  in  Lake  Michi- 


[22]    "Voree  Herald,"  August,  1849. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  131 

gan  as  a  place  for  a  Mormon  community  in  i846.23  Nearly  a 
year  elapsed  before  his  plans  could  be  set  in  motion.  With 
four  companions  he  took  passage  on  a  little  hooker,  the  captain 
agreeing  to  land  them  on  Beaver  Island.  They  sold  their 
blankets  to  pay  their  passage,  and  on  the  nth  day  of  May 
stepped  from  the  little  sailing  vessel  upon  the  soil  of  the  land 
which  the  leader  prophetically  declared  would  prove  to  them 
an  inheritance.  They  were  without  a  cent  of  money,  but  had 
provisions  enough  to  last  two  days.  Their  reception  was 
inhospitable  in  the  extreme.  At  neither  of  the  two  trading 
houses  then  on  the  island  could  five  penniless  men  arrange  for 
lodging,  so  they  sought  the  shelter  of  the  woods.  Construct- 
ing a  camp  of  hemlock  boughs,  they  undertook  a  thorough 
exploration  of  the  island.  Leeks  and  beechnuts  served  for 
food  while  they  were  thus  engaged. 

Their  perseverance  brought  its  reward.  They  soon 
obtained  employment,  and  it  was  not  long  before  they  had 
accumulated  a  store  of  provisions,  built  a  log  cabin  and 
arranged  for  the  use  of  a  boat.  Strang  and  two  of  the  men 
returned  to  Voree  to  start  the  migration  to  the  new  land  of 
promise.  Winter  locked  upon  the  island  a  Mormon  popula- 
tion of  five  men  and  thirteen  women  and  children.  The  fol- 
lowing winter  the  Mormons  on  the  island  numbered  sixty-two, 
seventeen  of  them  being  men.  In  the  summer  of  1849  saints 
began  to  arrive  in  considerable  numbers.  Instead  of  confin- 
ing their  efforts  to  working  for  the  traders  at  the  harbor,  they 
now  felt  numerically  strong  enough  to  begin  for  themselves. 
Twelve  elders  went  in  various  directions  to  summon  the  faithful 
to  the  new  stake  of  Zion,  and  to  seek  additional  converts.  The 
islanders  began  the  construction  of  a  schooner,  built  a  steam 
saw  mill  and  made  a  road  to  the  interior,  where  the  land  was 
excellently  adapted  for  agriculture.  They  manifested  so  much 
energy  that  the  fishermen  whose  rude  huts  punctuated  the 


[23]    "Ancient  and  Modern  Michilimackinac,"  1854,  p.  22. 


132  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

coast  here,  as  well  as  on  the  mainland  opposite,  took  serious 
alarm.  A  land  sale  being  held  about  this  time,  considerable 
friction  occurred  between  Mormon  and  Gentile  claimants  of 
choice  tracts.  There  arose  an  unpleasantness  that  later  bore 
bitter  fruit.  It  was  claimed  by  the  Saints  that  the  fishermen 
induced  the  captains  of  vessels  bearing  Mormon  emigrants  not 
to  land  at  the  Beaver.  Many  were  carried  on  to  Wisconsin 
who  had  been  ticketed  from  the  east  for  the  harbor  of  St.  James, 
for  so  the  Mormons  had  rechristened  the  horseshoe  bend  where 
vessels  came  to  land,  and  where  in  stormy  weather  they  found 
a  safe  haven. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Mormons  bade  fair  to  control  the 
island.  They  but  believed  that  they  had  come  into  their  own, 
for  this  was  the  revelation  given  unto  their  seer  and  revelator 
long  before  their  coming:  "So  I  beheld  a  land  amidst  wide 
waters  and  covered  with  large  timber,  with  a  deep  broad  bay 
on  one  side  of  it;  and  I  wandered  over  it  upon  little  hills  and 
among  rich  valleys,  where  the  air  was  pure  and  serene,  and  the 
unfolding  foliage,  with  its  fragrant  shades,  attracted  me  till  I 
wandered  to  bright  clear  waters  scarcely  ruffled  by  the  breeze. 
*  *  *  And  one  came  near  unto  me,  and  I  said,  What 
meaneth  this?  And  he  answered  and  said,  Behold,  here  shall 
God  establish  His  people.  *  *  *  For  He  will  make  their 
arm  strong,  and  their  bow  shall  abide  in  strength,  and  they 
shall  not  bow  to  the  oppressor,  and  the  power  of  the  Gentile 
shall  not  be  upon  them,  for  the  arm  of  God  shall  be  with  them 
to  support.  *  *  *  It  hath  abundance  in  the  riches  of  the 
forest,  and  in  the  riches  of  the  earth,  and  in  the  riches  of  the 
waters.  And  the  Lord  God  shall  add  possession  unto  the 
faithful,  and  give  good  gifts  unto  them  that  keep  His  law,  and 
He  will  establish  them  therein  forever."24 

To  appreciate  the  spirit  animating  the  Saints  in  thus  taking 
possession,  one  must  realize  the  fervor  of  their  faith  in  the  reve- 

[24]     "Revelations  of  James  J.  Strang,"  p.  5. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  133 

lation  of  their  seer.  There  were  among  them  some  who  had  in 
mind  mere  pelf  and  plunder,  but  the  greater  number  of  the 
misled  people  was  no  doubt  inspired  by  fanatic  zeal.  The  law 
of  Moses  was  their  law,  supplemented  by  the  doctrines  of  Mor- 
mon and  the  visions  of  Strang.  To  follow  these  injunctions 
was  to  do  no  wrong,  no  matter  what  laws  of  the  land  they 
violated.  Like  the  children  of  Israel,  they  were  going  from 
the  wilderness  to  a  land  overflowing  with  milk  and  honey.  As 
the  people  led  by  Moses  had  ruthlessly  slain  the  Amorites,  the 
Amalakites  and  the  Midianites,  so  they  felt  justified  in  smiting 
the  Lamanites,  or  Gentiles.  There  was  this  distinction,  that 
they  lived  in  an  age  when  prudence  forbade  violent  physical 
onslaught  upon  neighboring  inhabitants,  and  legal  strategy 
took  the  place  of  physical  violence.  This,  at  least,  was  the 
policy  of  the  leaders,  and  they  were  implicitly  obeyed  as  a  rule. 

The  Mormons  manifested  their  sense  of  ownership  by 
giving  new  names  to  the  physical  distinctions  of  Beaver  Island. 
The  beautiful  land-locked  harbor  was  called  St.  James.  The 
cluster  of  houses  that  were  reared  on  the  ancient  mounds  along 
the  shore — in  the  eyes  of  the  Mormons  the  evidences  of  an 
extinct  race  alluded  to  in  the  Book  of  Mormon — they  dignified 
by  the  name  City  of  St.  James.  A  hill  in  the  interior  received 
the  biblical  name  of  Mount  Pisgah.  The  river  Jordan  dis- 
charged into  the  lake  the  waters  that  poured  into  its  bed  from 
the  Sea  of  Galilee.  Thus  did  the  nomenclature  of  the  island 
receive  the  distinctive  impress  of  its  Mormon  population. 

Encounters  between  Mormons  and  Gentiles  soon  became 
frequent.  The  Mormons  planned  a  large  tabernacle.  While 
some  of  them  were  getting  out  the  timber  for  the  structure, 
they  were  set  upon  and  soundly  beaten.  Doubtless  there  is 
much  truth  in  the  claim  made  by  the  Mormons  that  up  to  this 
time  they  were  more  sinned  against  than  aggressors.  Drunken 
fishermen  invaded  their  homes  and  subjected  the  women  to 
indignities;  debating  clubs  were  attended  by  uninvited  guests, 


134  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

whose  boisterous  conduct  prevented  proceedings.  Men  from 
old  Michilimackinac  came  in  boats  to  raid  outlying  farm- 
houses. Families  sent  by  the  missionary  elders  were  met  at 
the  wharf  and  told  to  return  to  the  boat,  as  all  the  Mormons 
would  soon  be  driven  away  or  killed. 

About  the  year  1850  the  Saints  began  to  retaliate  in  earnest. 
Their  numbers  had  so  increased  that  they  could  safely  do  so. 
The  ambitions  of  Strang  were  about  being  realized.  He  had 
reorganized  his  community  of  Saints.  The  Book  of  the  Law  of 
the  Lord,  which  he  had  "translated"  from  plates  dug  out  of  the 
hill  at  Voree,  had  added  another  sacred  book  to  the  Mormon 
library,  ranking  in  the  faith  of  the  Beaver  Islanders  with  the 
Bible  and  the  Book  of  Mormon.  "Written  on  metallic  plates 
long  previous  to  the  Babylonish  captivity,"  as  Strang  explained 
to  his  credulous  followers,  the  Urim  and  Thummim  brought  to 
him  by  an  angel's  hand  had  enabled  him  to  interpret  the  char- 
acters thereof.  Thus  had  he  restored  to  the  chosen  people  the 
ancient  manuscript  long  lost  to  the  Jewish  nation.  The  sacred 
book  kept  in  the  ark  of  the  covenant  and  lost  when  the  children 
of  Israel  were  hurried  into  captivity,  came  back  after  all  these 
centuries  by  revelation  given  to  Strang.25 

And  the  Beaver  Island  Mormons  believed  what  he  said. 

"The  Calling  of  a  King"  was  the  caption  of  Chapter  XX  of 
the  Book  of  the  Law  of  the  Lord,  and  therein  appeared  these 
words  as  the  sixth  section : 

"6.  He  (God)  hath  chosen  His  servant  James  to  be  King: 
He  hath  made  him  His  Apostle  to  all  nations:  He  hath  estab- 
lished Him  a  Prophet  above  the  Kings  of  the  earth;  and 
appointed  him  King  in  Zion :  By  His  voice  did  He  call  him,  and 
He  sent  His  angels  unto  him  to  ordain  him." 

WAR    WITH    THE    FISHERMEN. 

The  8th  of  July,  1850,  was  set  for  the  coronation  of  King 
Strang,  and  great  preparations  were  made  for  the  event.  In 

[25]    "Book  of  the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  preface. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  135 

the  meantime  a  plot  had  been  hatched  which  threatened  the 
extinction  of  the  budding  kingdom.  But  for  the  energetic 
measures  taken  by  Strang,  doubtless  there  would  have  been  a 
bloody  conflict  between  the  fishermen  and  the  Mormons.  This 
is  Strang' s  account  of  the  affair: 

"In  May,  1850,  a  general  invitation  was  given  on  all  the 
fishing  grounds  to  come  to  Whiskey  Point  against  the  4th  of 
July,  for  a  glorious  and  patriotic  celebration  of  Independence — 
to  be  consummated  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons.  In  this 
invitation  all  the  traders  at  Beaver,  as  well  as  the  fishermen, 
joined.  Material  aid  was  furnished  from  Mackinac,  and  sev- 
eral small  vessels  owned  there  engaged  to  go  to  Beaver  with 
supplies,  and  lay  in  the  harbor  ready  to  join  in  the  fray. 
Arms,  ammunition  and  provisions  (of  which  whiskey  was  chief 
article)  were  laid  in ;  and  the  Gentiles  expressed  the  utmost  con- 
fidence of  success. 

"On  their  part  the  Mormons  gave  notice  of  a  general 
assembly,  and  by  that  means  called  in  a  great  number  of  their 
brethren  from  distant  places,  some  of  whom  brought  arms.  A 
cannon  and  a  stock  of  powder  and  lead  was  purchased;  a  reg- 
ular guard  enrolled,  who  were  on  duty  nightly,  while  others 
were  drilling.  This  was  conducted  with  the  utmost  secrecy, 
all  affecting  to  believe  that  no  attack  would  be  made.  They 
also  procured  a  large  schooner  from  Chicago  for  the  occasion, 
which  they  anchored  in  the  harbor,  and  in  the  night  filled  with 
armed  men,  who  kept  below  the  deck. 

"On  the  3d  of  July  several  boats  arrived  at  Whiskey  Point 
from  the  fishing  grounds,  filled  with  armed  men.  One  vessel 
from  Mackinac  arrived  and  anchored  in  the  harbor.  During 
the  night  they  had  a  carouse,  in  the  course  of  which  Mr.  Strang, 
with  a  select  party,  reconnoitred  their  quarters,  ascertained 
their  plans,  numbers,  etc.,  poured  some  of  their  powder  in  the 
lake,  and  put  tobacco  in  one  of  their  barrels  of  whiskey,  by 


136  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

means  of  which  those  who  drank  of  it  became  excessively 
drunk. 

"The  plan  was  to  go  to  the  meeting  singly  and  in  small 
groups,  with  slung  shot  and  other  concealed  weapons;  but 
affecting  order  and  propriety,  and  get  seats  nearly  as  possible 
in  a  body,  in  the  region  of  the  speakers'  stand  and  clerks' 
tables.  In  the  progress  of  the  service  they  were  to  commence 
talking,  drinking,  swearing,  etc.,  and  if  anyone  interfered  or 
attempted  to  keep  order,  begin  a  fight;  and  falling  suddenly  on 
the  unprepared  congregation  with  pistols,  bowie  knives  and 
slung  shot,  disperse  them  and  disable  or  kill  all  the  leaders 
before  they  had  time  to  rally,  arm  or  make  a  stand.  This  was 
to  be  followed  up  by  a  general  debauchery  of  the  women  and 
burning  of  houses. 

"At  the  first  dawn  of  the  Fourth,  the  Mormons  commenced 
firing  a  national  salute,  which  was  the  first  intimation  to  the 
Gentiles  that  they  had  a  cannon.  They  were  not  a  little 
alarmed  when  they  discovered  that  at  every  boom  of  the 
cannon  the  balls  skipped  along  the  water  past  Whiskey  Point, 
scarcely  two  rods  from  them,  and  were  regularly  getting  the 
range  for  their  buildings.  Before  their  surprise  had  time  to 
abate,  McKinley,  who  was  proprietor  there,  was  waited  on  by 
a  deputation  of  Mormons  with  the  notice  that  as  he  had  made 
his  place  the  headquarters  of  the  mob,  he  would  be  held 
responsible  for  any  attack  from  any  quarter;  and  the  first  gun 
fired  would  be  the  signal  for  destroying  his  establishment  and 
every  soul  in  it.  Notice  was  also  given  to  all  the  Gentiles  hav- 
ing property  on  the  island,  that  if  they  joined  in,  furnished  or 
even  associated  with  the  mob,  they  would  be  taken  as  enemies 
and  their  homes  made  as  bare  as  a  sand  bank. 

"The  Mormons  met  within  the  unfinished  walls  of  the 
tabernacle ;  eight  men  mounted  guard,  with  their  guns  shotted ; 
the  cannon  unlimbered  in  front,  in  charge  of  twelve  artillerists, 
with  a  fire  in  which  heated  balls  were  continually  ready;  and 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  137 

two  patrols  and  a  water  guard  were  constantly  on  the  lookout 
for  the  enemy. 

"In  the  course  of  the  day  two  vessels  and  sixteen  boats 
arrived  from  the  fisheries,  bringing  men,  munition,  etc.,  includ- 
ing one  cannon;  but  no  hostile  movements  were  made  till 
afternoon,  when  a  company  of  Gentile  women  came  into  the 
congregation  unattended.  Directly  one  of  them  left  and 
returned  to  the  boat  which  had  carried  her  over,  and  had  a  con- 
versation with  nine  men  who  were  with  it.  They  went  up  and 
were  allowed  to  enter  the  congregation,  but  as  soon  as  they 
were  seated  it  was  announced  from  the  stand  that  any  inter- 
ruption of  the  service  or  business  would  be  instantly  punished 
by  personal  chastisement;  and  the  guard  were  charged  in  case 
any  general  disorder  was  attempted,  to  cut  down  every  person 
who  joined  in  it.  They  sat  uneasily  a  few  moments  and  asked 
leave  to  withdraw.  The  guard  conducted  them  out  and  com- 
pelled them  to  take  their  boat  and  leave. 

"The  following  evening  during  their  carouse  at  Whiskey 
Point,  a  select  party  of  the  Mormons  contrived  to  get  within 
hearing  of  them  at  their  consultation,  and  learned  that  they  had 
been  disappointed  by  the  non-arrival  of  the  Gull  Island,  Seuil 
Choix  and  East  shore  fishermen;  that  part  of  the  resident 
traders  were  anxious  to  postpone  the  attempt,  in  the  fear  that 
it  would  be  a  failure  and  the  Mormons  would  take  revenge  on 
them  for  their  part  in  the  transaction;  that  jealousies  existed 
among  them  as  to  the  means  by  which  the  Mormons  had 
obtained  their  plans ;  and  the  sober  were  fearful  that  the  Mor- 
mons were  too  well  prepared.  Indecision  and  disorder  pre- 
vailed, and  they  were  unable  to  agree  upon  their  leader.  The 
result  of  all  these  embarrassments  was  that  they  generally 
agreed  to  'wait  for  recruits  and  then  pay  off  the  damned  Mor- 
mons for  arming  and  setting  guards  before  anybody  meddled 
with  them.'  "26 


F26]    "Ancient  and  Modern  Michilimackinac,"  p.  25. 


138  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

CORONATION    OF    KING    JAMES. 

The  threatened  invasion  having  miscarried,  the  coronation 
of  the  King  proceeded  according  to  program.  On  the  8th  of 
July,  1850,  a  date  that  became  known  as  "King's  Day,"  Strang 
assumed  royal  powers.  This  is  an  account  of  the  ceremony  in 
the  words  of  an  eye-witness,  Mrs.  Cecelia  Hill,  now  of  Wone- 
woc,  Wis.,  then  a  young  woman  living  with  her  Mormon 
parents  on  Beaver  Island:27 

"I  was  present  when  Strang  was  crowned  King.  The  cere- 
mony took  place  in  the  tabernacle,  a  building  about  80  feet 
long,  constructed  of  hewn  logs,  and  but  partly  completed  at  the 
time  of  the  coronation.  Like  any  young  woman  under  similar 
circumstances,  I  was  anxious  to  be  present  and  managed  to  get 
into  the  tabernacle.  At  one  end  was  a  platform,  and  towards 
it  marched  the  procession  of  elders  and  other  quorums,  escort- 
ing the  King.  First  came  the  King,  dressed  in  a  robe  of  bright 
red,  and  accompanied  by  his  council.  Then  followed  the 
twelve  elders,  the  seventy  and  the  minor  orders  of  the  ministry, 
or  quorums,  as  they  were  called.  The  people  were  permitted 
to  occupy  what  space  remained  in  the  tabernacle. 

"The  chief  ceremonials  were  performed  by  George  J. 
Adams,  president  of  the  council  of  elders.  Adams  was  a  man 
of  imposing  presence.  He  was  over  six  feet  tall,  and  he 
towered  over  the  short-statured  King,  who,  however,  made  up 
in  intellect  what  he  lacked  in  frame.  Adams  had  been  an 
actor,  and  he  succeeded  in  making  the  crowning  of  the  King  a 
very  imposing  ceremony.  It  ended  by  placing  upon  the 
auburn  head  of  King  Strang  a  crown  of  metal.  The  crown  was 
a  plain  circlet,  with  a  cluster  of  stars  projecting  in  front.  It 
was  July  8th,  that  this  ceremony  occurred,  and  every  recurring 
8th  of  July  was  known  as  the  King's  day  and  was  celebrated  as 
a  holiday  with  many  festivities.  The  entire  population  of  the 
island  would  gather  at  a  place  in  the  woods  to  go  through  pre- 


[27]    See  appendix,  narrative  of  Mrs.  Cecelia  Hill. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  139 

scribed  ceremonials — the  hewers  of  wood  and  the  drawers  of 
water  to  make  proper  obeisance  to  the  King.  There  were 
burnt  offerings  to  begin  with.  The  head  of  each  family 
brought  a  fowl,  and  a  heifer  was  thereupon  killed.  Its  body 
was  dissected  without  breaking  a  bone.  After  these  cere- 
monials there  was  feasting  and  rejoicing,  and  the  people  danced 
on  the  greensward.  King's  day  was  the  same  with  the 
islanders  as  the  Fourth  of  July  is  with  us." 

King  Strang  was  now  supreme  on  Beaver  Island,  and  bade 
fair  to  soon  control  the  entire  group  of  islands.  His  policy 
was  to  foster  the  fisheries  as  a  source  of  profit  to  his  colony, 
and  to  use  the  power  of  political  machinery  to  secure  immunity 
for  infractions  of  the  law.  As  the  population  of  the  island  mul- 
tiplied and  the  power  of  the  Mormons  with  it,  the  hatred  of  the 
traders  and  fishermen  on  the  opposite  coasts  became  more 
intense.  The  border  feud  grew  so  bitter  that  the  newspapers 
of  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Buffalo  and  New  York28  devoted  con- 
siderable space  to  its  incidents.  As  a  rule,  these  accounts 
represented  the  Mormons  as  a  band  of  pirates  engaged  in 
plunder  and  crimes  of  all  kinds.  The  center  of  the  hostile 
camp  was  at  old  Mackinac,  and  here  plans  were  made  for  dis- 
comfiting the  Mormons.  It  is  difficult  at  this  day  to  judge 
how  far  the  Gentiles  were  in  the  wrong  and  in  how  far  the 
Mormons.  Doubtless  there  was  much  wrong  on  both  sides. 
"Such  expressions  as  'the  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness 
thereof,'  and  'we  are  the  Lord's  chosen  people'  stilled  the  con- 
sciences and  justified  the  use  of  property  owned  by  others;  yet 
it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  many  depredations  were  committed 
by  irresponsible  persons  and  deliberately  charged  to  the 
Mormons."29 


[28]  "Rough  Notes,"  a  piper  published  at  Buffalo,  and  the  "Detroit 
Free  Press"  were  particularly  conspicuous  in  publishing  reports  of  Mormon 
depredations.  Strang  published  an  elaborate  defense  in  the  "New  York 
Tribune"  of  July  2,  1853. 

[29]  "Beaver  Island  and  its  Mormon  Kingdom,"  by  Chas.  J.  Strang.  in 
"The  Ottawan,"  p.  66. 


140  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

At  first  the  advantage  was  with  the  Gentiles  at  Mackinac, 
for  they  had  the  machinery  of  government  in  their  hands.  The 
sheriff  aided  them  by  arresting  Mormons  and  taking  them  to 
Mackinac  for  trial.  On  one  occasion  Strang  and  a  company 
of  workmen  had  gone  to  Hog  Island  to  save  from  the  wreck  of 
a  vessel  a  yawl  boat  frozen  in  the  shoals.  A  man  named 
Moore,  who  had  been  chased  off  Beaver  Island  for  selling 
whiskey,  went  before  a  justice  of  the  peace  at  Mackinac  and 
swore  out  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  thirty-one  men  on  the 
novel  charge  that  they  had  "put  him  in  fear  of  danger."  Sheriff 
Granger,  with  a  posse  of  thirteen  white  men  and  thirty-two 
Indians,  went  to  the  island  where  the  men  were,  seized  the 
boat  of  the  Mormons,  and,  believing  their  prey  secure,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  camp  of  the  Mormons  a  little  past  midnight.  A 
wild  Irish  hurrah  and  an  accompanying  Indian  war  whoop 
awoke  the  Mormons  to  a  night  of  terror  and  suffering.  Hat- 
less  and  shoeless  they  rushed  into  the  woods  and  sought  the 
protection  of  a  swamp,  while  the  sheriff's  men  plundered  the 
camp  and  divided  the  spoils  of  war.  The  Mormons  found  a 
leaky  fish  boat  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  island,  and  this  they 
launched..  It  was  a  cold  April  morning.  According  to  the 
account  they  afterwards  gave,  "the  lake  was  spotted  with  vast 
fields  of  drift  ice.  With  a  boat  preserved  from  sinking  only 
by  the  ice  frozen  in  it,  without  sails  or  oar  locks,  and  with  three 
unsuitable  oars;  not  half  clothed,  no  provisions,  without  a  line 
to  tie  their  boat  nor  an  ax  to  repair  any  accident,  they  set  out 
on  the  broad  blue  waters  for  a  place  of  safety." 

It  took  twenty-four  hours  for  them  to  reach  Gull  Island, 
and  here  they  spent  five  miserable  days  in  a  fish  shanty  before 
they  managed  to  repair  the  boat  sufficiently  to  proceed.  After 
this  a  price  was  set  on  Strang's  head,  and  several  hundred 
armed  men,  including  Irish  fishermen  and  Indians,  hunted  for 
him  for  weeks  to  earn  the  reward  of  $300  offered  by  the  sheriff 
for  the  body  of  Strang,  "dead  or  alive."30 

[30]    In  a  letter  to  the  writer  from  Chas.  J.  Strang. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 


141 


VOL.  IV.  No.  10.) 


VOREE,  Wis., THURSDAY.  MAY  24,  1849. 


[WHOLE  No.  124. 


GOSPEL    HERALD, 

PRIMTKn  A»n  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY,  FOR  THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS 

CHRIST  OF  LATTER  DAY  SAINTS. 
TERMS: 

TWO  DOLLARS  PER  ANNUM,  PAYAILE,  INVARIABLY,  IN  ADVANCE. 

AM  lettersand  communications  must  be  directed  to  JAMES  J.STRAVO, 
pot  I  paid,  or  they  will  not  be  taken  from  the  post  office. 

EXISTENCE  OF  GOD. 
MR.  BURGESS  TO  MR.  STRANG.-No.  8. . 

Racine,  May  7th,  1849. 

MR.  JAMES  J.  STRAND: — In  reply  to  your  third  review  of  my  third 
letter,  par.  205,  I  still  think  weighing  the  hog  proves  the  testimony 
true  or  false  ;  for  if"  testimony  proved  the  fact,"  why  dn  we  dem- 
onstrate by  weighing? 

185.  ^You  ask,  par.  206,  ••  whence  originated   this  principle  in 
weights,  this  standard  to  which  all  weights  must  conform  V     You 
•ay  the  authority  established  it.     But  what  established  the  authori- 
ty 1    Is  not  the  authority  derived -from  the  people  by  their  delegates  t 
In  despotism  authority  may  be  usurped  by  force.     Among  the  su- 
perstitious a  pretended  revelation  might  suffice.   -But   with    a  free 
and  enlightened  people,  authority  must  be  the  expression   of  their 
will      Succeeding  generations  may  recognize  the  same  standard, 
till  they  discover  a  better.     But  the  authority  will  still   be  founded. 
on  aneir  agreement.     You  speak  6T" 'authority  *~za  the   opinion  of 
«ome  great  officer,  and  yet  you  tell  me  there  is  a  natural  impossibil- 
iiy  in  making  an  issue  between  testimony  and   authority.     Why, 
they  are  so  frequently  in  opposition,  that  1   should    be  puzzled   to 
know  whether  they  agree  or  differ  most, 

186.  You 'say,  par.  207,  you  know  of  no  greater  dupe  than  he 
who  thinks  nobody  honest,  wise  or  true  but  himself.    For  once  we 
agree.     You  continue,  «•  and  gives  precedence  to  the  common  thief 
over  the  learned  professions."    I  spoke  of  the  "  qsacks,"  not  the 
"  learned,"  and  should  prefer  your  correspondence  with  less  plagi- 
arism.   To  return  the  compliment,  if  Mr.  Strang  prefers  thp  com- 
pany of  "quacks"  and  plagiarists,  I  do  not. 

187.  In  reply  to  par.  209,  when  you  can  show  a  proposition  which 
is  self-evident  or  evident  in  itself,  but  not  evident  to  yourself,  or 
myself,  or  some  other  self,  I  shall  be  glad  to  learn   the  distinction. 
And  when  you  can  show  anything  which  is  perceptible  to  the  eye 
and  not  to  the  mind,  I  will  certainly  own  beat.     Such  distinctions 
quite  overpower  my  comprehension. 

188.  Yon  ask,  "  *hat  is  it  to  prove  by  demonstration,  but  to  dem- 
onstrate by  proof  V     Par.  211.     If  you  are  really  sincere  when  you 
•ay,  "you  confess  yourself  annoyed  by   such   nonsense,"   why   do 
you  say  testimony  proves  the  fact  ?  which  is  but  saying  that  testi- 
mony testifies  the  fact.    Our  own  nonsense  does  not  seem  so  troub- 
lesomn  to  us  as  that  of  others,  probably  from  being  more  used  to  it, 
or  in  blissful  ignorance  of  it. 

"  Oh  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us, 

To  see  ourselves  as  others  see  us." 

So  says  Burns.  Do  the  priests,  "  who  know  how  to  avoid  these 
expressions,  know  too  much  to  debate  at  all  V'  It  appears-  to  me  a 
pitifbl  way  of  lengthening  a  debate  to  cavil  at  common  expressions. 


i»  which  the  question  at  issue  i*  not  involved.  A  chemist  says  he 
win  prove  a  fact  in  chemistry,  which  he  demonstrates,  and  Uren 
claims  he  has  proved  it  bj  demonstration.  1  will  be  ailcnt  if  I  find 
nothing  more  objectionable  than  that  to  reply  to. 

189.  You  say,  par.  213,  "  the  rotundity  oftheeanh  is demoiutra* 
ed  by  the  testimony  of  great  numbers  of  witnesses."    I  cannot  eve* 
now  believe,  notwithstanding  your  high  authority,  that  tru  rotundi- 
ty of  the  earth  or  the  existence  of  God  can  by  any  possibility   be 
demonatraled  by  testimony ;  else  demonstration  and   testimony  »re 
synonymous,  and  you  again  utter  that  "nonsense"  of  which  yc« 
complain  in  me. 

190.  In  par.  216  yon  boast  your  extensive  acquaintance  with  all 
kinds  of  society,  a  majority  of  whom  profess  to  have  seen  arW   re- 
ceived  commonications   from  the  supernatural.     How  doc*  thn 
agree,  with  par.  86,  where,  speaking  of  spirits,  you  say,  I  am  not 
aware  that  in  any  true  sense  they  are  supernatural  1     If,  as  7  cm  ad*- 
mil,  there  is  nothing  really  supernatural,  but  only  portions  of  nature 
relatively  fine,  which  cannot  govern  the  whole  themselves,  boinj 
pans,  and  subject  to  the  governing  influence  of  other  parts,  I  thiiiS 
he  point  in  issue  is  decided.     You  admit' all  I  claim,   that  all   ibe 

phenomena  we  witness  are  natural,  and  the  different  portion*  of  nw- 
ore  mutually  govern  each  other.  If  iiot,  pray  tell  me  how  to  dib- 
inguish  the  natural  from  the  supernatural.  I  have*  asked  the  <jue«- 
ticra  so  often  in  rain,  that  I  am  without  hope  of  obtaining  an  answer. 
ftl.'Tri  par.Trts37Btt"9ay  ytm  c-imiTOt  distinguish  b«twe«n  '-•*• 
natural  and  the  supernatural,  except  by  the  popular  distinction,  ,ur 
by  saying  that  which  is  highest  is  super.  Query.  What  ie  ta« 
standard  of  the  highest  ?  The  diffieuky  sli)l  remain*.  And  what 
the"  popular  distinction"  is,  I  cannot  ertr>  guess. 

192.  You  say,  par.  218,  speaking  of  the  Mormon  doctrine,  "ii  it 
believed  by  those  who  examine  iu>  evidence,  because  they  cannot 
fail  to  appreciate  its  evidences,"  unless  they  are  deeply  interested 
in  opposition.    This  might  be  said  by  the  advocates  of  all  kind)  of 
superstition  or  notions,  true  or  false,  without  helping  us  to  perceive 
their  truth  or  falsehood.     Huwe\er,  having  110  vested  m:crcsi  it  op- 
position to  Mormonism,   unless  mj   aversion   to  being   dcptd  fcy 
priests  be  considered  such,  I  t>li&ll  bo  happy  to  examine  the  eviden- 
ces at  onr  leisure,  ifyou  desire  to  advance  them.     For  this  reason 

stated  in  the  opening;  of  oar  discussion,  that  ••  my  denial  extended 
to  the  existence  of  trio  supernatural,  and  the  rfcfcimicn  of  his  will 
ri  any  written  form  whatever. '* 

193.  You  say,  par.  220,  you  "  have  exposed  the  absurdity  of  rhy 
grounds  of  doutk,  by  showing  that  the  m&st  certain  facts  in  history 
and  science  are  no  better  proved,  and  as  much  doubted."    This  on- 
ly shows  how  htt!e  reason  we  have  to  believe   those   things   called 
facts  in  history  and  science,  and  is  good  evidence  for  doubt   instead 
of  belief.     If  1  desired  to  govern  the  credulous   with   my   notions.  1 
would  advance  such  arguments  as  you  do.     But  if  1  wished    iheui 
to  be  governed  by  truth,  I  would  encourage  them  to  inquire  contin- 
ually concerning  it.     In  fine,  to  do  their  own  thinking,  and   let   thr 
priests  do  their  own  working,  and  thus  make  the  minds  and   bodir* 
of  both  more  efficient  for  the  promotion  ofhappiness  to  the  race,  and 
less  liable  to  be  dupes  or  staves.     Yours  for  the  truth, 

EDWIN 


FACSIMILE  OF  THE  GOSPEL  HERALD. 
(Two-thirds  of  the  actual  size.) 


142  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS, 

i 

KING  STRANG'S  ARREST. 

While  visiting  a  brother  in  the  city  of  Detroit,  President 
Millard  Fillmore  was  informed  that  among  the  remote  islands 
of  Lake  Michigan  a  person  named  Strang  had  established  what 
he  termed  a  kingdom,  but  what  actually  was  but  a  nest  of  free- 
booters engaged  in  robbing  the  mails  and  counterfeiting  the 
coin.  The  president  dispatched  the  armed  steamer  Michigan 
to  the  insular  kingdom,  and  ordered  the  arrest  of  the  king  for 
treason.  The  Michigan  reached  the  harbor  of  St.  James  one 
midnight.  The  next  morning  the  King  went  aboard  and  sur- 
rendered himself,  as  did  two  score  other  Mormons.  The 
officers  had  been  told  that  in  an  artificial  cavern  in  Mount 
Pisgah  the  workshop  of  the  counterfeiters  could  be  found. 
They  failed  to  locate  such  a  cave. 

After  holding  a  court  under  an  awning  on  the  steamer's 
deck  and  taking  a  mass  of  testimony,  the  United  States  officials 
released  many  of  the  Mormons  and  steamed  for  Detroit  with 
King  Strang  and  a  few  of  his  leading  men.  There,  from  the 
latter  part  of  May  till  the  9th  of  July,  was  held  a  trial  that 
attracted  attention  all  over  the  country.  The  indictments 
against  Strang  were  on  twelve  counts,  including  mail  robbery, 
counterfeiting  and  treason.  He  conducted  his  own  defense 
with  such  skill  and  shrewdness  as  to  result  in  his  acquittal. 
His  speech  to  the  jury  was  highly  dramatic.  He  pictured  him- 
self a  martyr  to  religious  persecution.  He  was  a  master  of 
emotional  oratory,  and  on  this  occasion  particularly  so.  His 
acquittal  was  gained  in  the  face  of  a  violent  local  prejudice  and 
the  most  virulent  attacks  in  the  local  press.  It  was  a  victory 
that  gave  him  an  immense  prestige  at  home,  and  aided  him 
abroad. 

Biding  his  opportunity,  Strang  planned  to  secure  the 
machinery  of  the  law  in  his  own  hands.  He  so  shrewdly 
manipulated  politics  that  the  solid  vote  of  Beaver  Island 
became  of  great  concern  to  politicians.  To  the  discomfiture  of 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  143 

the  people  of  Mackinac,  in  1851,  the  Mormons  elected  all  the 
county  officers.  They  now  had  the  sheriff  and  the  entire 
machinery  of  law,  and  could  do  as  they  pleased.  A  Mormon 
sheriff  could  serve  the  warrants,  a  Mormon  jury  convict  and  a 
Mormon  judge  sentence  anyone  resisting  the  mandate  or 
authority  of  the  King.  In  1853  King  Strang  secured  his  own 
election  to  the  legislature  by  clever  political  manipulation.  His 
candidacy  was  not  announced  until  election  day ;  the  Mormons 
then  plumped  their  votes  for  him  and  snowed  under  their 
unsuspecting  enemies,  who  supposed  their  own  candidate 
would  go  in  without  an  opposing  candidate.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  prevent  Strang  from  taking  his  seat  by  serving  an  old 
warrant  for  his  arrest.  To  outwit  his  foes  Strang  barricaded 
himself  in  his  stateroom  and  withstood  a  siege  till  the  boat 
entered  the  St.  Clair,  when  he  broke  down  the  door  and  sought 
neutral  territory  by  jumping  on  a  wharf  on  the  Canadian  shore. 
Arrived  at  the  capital,  he  ascertained  that  his  seat  would  be 
contested.  He  argued  his  own  case,  and  made  such  a  favor- 
able impression  that  he  obtained  the  disputed  seat.  As  a  legis- 
lator he  proved  industrious  and  tactful,  so  that  at  the  close  of 
the  session  the  Detroit  Advertiser  said  of  him: 

"Mr.  Strang's  course  as  a  member  of  the  present  legislature 
has  disarmed  much  of  the  prejudice  which  had  previously  sur- 
rounded him.  Whatever  may  be  said  or  thought  of  the 
peculiar  sect  of  which  he  is  the  local  head,  throughout  this  ses- 
sion he  has  conducted  himself  with  a  degree  of  decorum  and 
propriety  which  have  been  equaled  by  his  industry,  sagacity, 
good  temper,  apparent  regard  for  the  true  interests  of  the 
people,  and  the  obligations  of  his  official  oath/' 

THE    RULE    OF   THE    KING. 

During  this  period  of  his  reign  the  power  of  King  Strang 
was  at  its  zenith.  Among  his  own  people  his  word  was  law, 
and  those  outside  the  fold  dared  not  say  him  nay.  He  was 


144  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

monarch  of  all  he  surveyed,  and  he  proceeded  to  put  into  effect 
ideas  which  he  had  long  treasured.  The  use  of  intoxicants  was 
prohibited,  and  likewise  of  coffee,  tea  and  tobacco.  There  was 
a  code  that  strictly  governed  all  morals  and  religious  observ- 
ance, and  violations  were  punished  with  a  rigor  that  forbade 
repetition.  Tithes  were  required  of  every  husbandman,  and 
the  firstling  of  every  flock  and  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest 
went  to  the  royal  storehouse.  Schools  were  established,  and 
from  the  royal  press  were  issued  books  and  pamphlets  in  great 
number,  all  of  them  the  product  of  Strang's  prolific  pen.  The 
Northern  Islander  was  published  weekly  and  then  daily. 
Nothing  escaped  the  watchful  eye  of  the  King,  whose  capacity 
for  work  seemed  equal  to  every  demand.  He  was  a  busy  pam- 
phleteer, and  he  wrote  long  letters  to  the  papers  of  the  east 
defending  his  people  against  the  accusations  leveled  at  them. 
The  Smithsonian  Institute  found  in  him  a  contributor;  his 
paper  upon  the  "Natural  History  of  Beaver  Island"  was 
printed  in  its  ninth  annual  report. 

In  his  government  of  the  island  King  Strang  developed  a 
marvelous  capacity  for  detail.  This  found  expression  in  an 
autocratic  sway  that  dictated  not  only  the  ecclesiastical  cus- 
toms of  his  subjects,  but  everything  connected  with  their  daily 
life.  Women  were  required  to  wear  bloomers;  men  were 
required  to  be  as  decorous  in  their  conduct  as  women;  gaming 
was  prohibited  as  strictly  as  was  the  use  of  intoxicants  and 
narcotics.  About  this  time,  also,  the  doctrine  of  plural  mar- 
riages was  openly  advocated;  it  had  been  tentatively  broached 
several  years  before.  Polygamy  never  made  much  headway, 
despite  the  example  set  by  the  King,  who  enlarged  his  family 
by  taking  five  wives.  It  is  asserted  that  not  more  than  twenty 
plural  marriages  took  place  on  the  island.. 

While  seemingly  securely  entrenched,  the  Mormon  king- 
dom was  at  this  time  really  crumbling.  From  time  to  time 
malcontents  had  been  bred  among  the  King's  subjects,  and 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  145 

they  joined  the  hostile  fishermen  on  the  small  islands  and  on 
the  mainland  opposite.  King  Strang  conceived  a  brilliant 
plan  to  bring  them  back  to  allegiance  or  suffer  the  penalty  of 
his  displeasure.  A  grand  jury  was  called  to  meet  at  St.  James; 
some  of  these  men  were  to  be  summoned  as  jurors  and  some 
as  witnesses.  The  Mormon  sheriff  and  his  posse  went  to 
Charlevoix  (Pine  River)  to  serve  a  summons  on  one  Savage, 
who  had  been  an  elder  and  had  incurred  Strang's  displeasure.31 
Savage  read  the  summons,  tore  the  paper  into  shreds  and 
stamped  his  heel  upon  the  fragments.  As  the  sheriff  laid  his 
hand  on  the  shoulder  of  Savage  to  arrest  him,  the  latter  gave  a 
signal.  There  was  an  answering  shout,  and  a  score  of  sturdy 
fisher  lads  came  running  to  the  rescue.  The  Mormons  hastily 
ran  for  their  boats.  A  pursuing  volley  wounded  two  of  them, 
but  the  party  managed  to  put  off  in  their  boat.  The  fishermen 
also  tumbled  into  boats,  and  then  ensued  a  race  for  life.  The 
Mormons  struggled  at  the  oars  in  desperation,  as  the  bullets 
whistled  over  them  or  pierced  the  sides  of  the  boat,  while  hard 
behind  came  the  avengers  intent  on  their  death.  Off  in  the 
distance  could  be  seen  the  bellowed  sails  of  a  vessel,  and  for 
this  the  Mormons  made  as  their  only  hope.  Bleeding  and 
spent,  they  managed  to  reach  the  craft  before  their  pursuers 
could  overtake  them,  and  appealed  to  the  captain  to  save 
them.  It  chanced  that  the  sailor  was  a  humane  man,  and  he 
gave  them  shelter  and  refused  to  yield  to  the  demand  of  the 
pursuers  that  the  Mormons  be  turned  over  to  them.32 

King  Strang  at  once  took  steps  to  punish  the  colonists  at 
Charlevoix,  but  they  had  taken  the  alarm  and  fled.  The  Mor- 
mons erected  a  lofty  gallows  and  adorned  it  with  this 
inscription: 

"THE  MURDERERS  OF  PINE  RIVER." 

Another  serious  encounter  occurred  when  a  Mormon  con- 
stable attempted  to  arrest  Thomas  and  Samuel  Bennett,  Gen- 

[31]    See  appendix,  narrative  of  Ludlow  P.  Hill. 

[32]    See  appendix,  narrative  of  the  rescue  by  Capt.  E.  S.  Stone. 


146 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MOKMONS. 


tiles  who  lived  on  Beaver  Island.  They  resisted;  Thomas 
Bennett  was  instantly  shot  dead  and  his  brother  had  one  hand 
nearly  shot  away. 


ASSASSINATION    OF    THE    KING. 


Such  episodes  caused  renewed  activity  in  the  Gentile 
strongholds  among  those  who  planned  to  sweep  the  Mormon 
settlements  with  fire  and  sword.  Before  their  plans  could  be 
executed  the  King  was  assassinated  by  two  of  his  rebellious 


Mounds} 

»!  ?/  Lt.  ILJ 

J1EA.YER  JLLRSOS, 


MI  GUI  a  A  TV 


NORTHERN  E)ND  OF  BEAVER  ISLAND. 
(From  the  Smithsonian  Report  for  1878.) 

Showing  the  harbor  of  St.  James  and  the  mounds  whereon  the  Mormon  temple 
aud  public  buildings  of  the  kingdom  were  erected. 

subjects — Thomas  Bedford  and  Alexander  Wentworth.  Bed- 
ford had  been  whipped  by  order  of  the  King  for  some  offense ; 
he  is  said  to  have  upheld  his  wife  in  disregarding  the  mandate 
to  wear  bloomers.  Wentworth  also  had  a  grievance.  About 
the  middle  of  June,  1856,  the  Michigan  steamed  into  the  har- 
bor, and  by  invitation  of  the  captain  King  Strang  proceeded  to 
visit  the  vessel's  officers.  As  he  was  about  to  step  on  the  pier, 
two  pistol  shots  were  fired  from  behind,  both  taking  effect.  He 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  147 

turned  and  recognized  the  assassins  as  they  fired  again.  As  he 
sank  to  the  ground  they  struck  him  over  the  head  and  face  with 
the  weapons,  ran  aboard  the  steamer  and  gave  themselves  up. 
They  were  taken  to  Mackinac,  where  the  murderers  were 
received  as  heroes.  They  were  never  brought  to  trial. 

The  wounds  of  Strang  proved  fatal.  He  called  his  elders  to 
his  deathbed,  gave  them  instructions  for  the  government  of  his 
Mormon  kingdom,  and  as  a  last  request  asked  to  be  taken  to 
the  city  of  refuge  which  he  had  founded  in  Wisconsin.  There 
he  died  July  9,  1856,  and  there  his  bones  rest  in  an  unmarked 
grave. 

The  kingdom  fell  with  him.  The  Gentile  invasion  came 
soon  after  his  removal  to  Voree.  The  fishermen  came  with 
torch  to  destroy  and  with  ax  to  demolish.  The  printing  office 
was  sacked;  the  tabernacle  was  reduced  to  ashes;  the  Mormons 
were  exiled.  On  the  islands  of  Green  Bay  and  its  adjacent 
peninsula  a  few  of  them  built  new  homes;  some  sought  the  land 
whence  they  had  followed  their  prophet;  the  rest  were  scat- 
tered to  the  four  points  of  the  compass.  Like  that  of  the 
prophet  Joseph,  the  life  of  the  prophet  James  ended  in  a 
tragedy  and  the  exile  and  dispersion  of  his  people.*3 

HENRY  E.  LEGLER. 

May  n,  1897. 


[33]    Strang-  was  survived  by  his  five  wives.    Four  of  his  twelve  children 
were  born  after  his  death,  one  being  born  to  each  of  his  polygamous  wives. 


148  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 


APPENDIX. 


I. 

•  STRANG'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

Following  is  a  copy  of  a  writing  found  among  the  papers  of 
James  Jesse  Strang  after  his  death : 

I  was  born  March  2ist,  1813,  on  Popple  Ridge  road,  town 
of  Scipio,  Cayuga  county,  New  York.  My  infancy  was  a 
period  of  continual  sickness  and  extreme  suffering,  and  I  have 
understood  that  at  one  time  I  was  so  low  as  to  be  thought 
dead,  and  that  preparations  were  made  for  my  burial.  All  my 
early  recollections  are  painful,  and  at  this  day  I  am  utterly 
unable  to  comprehend  the  feeling  of  those  who  look  back  with 
pleasure  on  their  infancy,  and  regret  the  rapid  passing  away  of 
childhood.  Till  I  had  children  of  my  own,  happy  in  their  in- 
fantile gambols,  the  recollection  of  those  days  produced  a  kind 
of  creeping  sensation  akin  to  terror. 

My  parentage  was  decidedly  respectable.  My  father  is  a  de- 
scendant of  Henry  de  1'  Estrange,  who  accompanied  the  Duke 
of  York  to  the  new  world  to  conquer  the  Dutch  colony  of  New 
Amsterdam,  now  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  family  has 
ever  since  retained  an  honorable  rank,  and  is  now  scattered 
over  nearly  all  the  States,  and  branches  of  it  are  found  in 
British  America  and  the  West  Indies. 

Tradition  says  they  originally  settled  at  New  Utrecht,  on 
Long  Island,  but  Henry  de  1'  Estrange,  before  his  death, 
removed  to  the  town  of  Rye,  Westchester  County,  New  York, 
where  some  of  his  descendants  remained  till  since  1840. 

Tradition  also  says  that  my  great-grandfather  accompanied 
the  first  English  expedition  to  Michilimackinac,  during  which 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  149 

he  contracted  a  dangerous  sickness,  that  he  was  sent  back  for 
medical  treatment,  and  died  on  the  way  from  the  residence  of 
Sir  William  Johnson  to  Albany. 

He  left  two  sons,  William  and  Gabriel,  who  were  brought 
up  among  their  mother's  relatives,  and  by  that  means  became 
separated  from  the  family.  They  settled  at  a  very  early  period 
at  Stillwater,  in  Saratoga  County,  New  York,  and  were  lost 
sight  of  by  the  Strangs  in  the  south  part  of  New  York,  and  on 
numerous  genealogical  trees  found  in  that  country  the  limb 
breaks  off  with  their  names. 

My  father,  Clement  Strang,  is  the  fifth  son  of  Gabriel 
Strang.  Coming  originally  of  a  Norman  stock  who  have  con- 
tinually intermarried  with  the  Dutch  and  German  families  of 
the  Hudson,  he  partakes  (as  I  do)  more  of  the  German  type 
than  any  other.  Counting  continually  in  the  male  line  for  ten 
generations  back,  our  ancestors  are  Jews,  but  so  large  is  the 
admixture  of  other  blood  that  the  Semitic  type  seems  to  be 
quite  lost. 

My  mother  is  of  the  purest  Yankee  stock  from  Rhode 
Island,  her  father,  Jesse  James,  and  her  grandfather,  James 
James,  having  left  there  about  the  time  of  her  birth,  and  set- 
tled in  Greenfield,  Saratoga  County,  New  York,  where  they 
died  full  of  years  and  honors. 

My  father  and  mother  are  yet  living  (1855),  with  a  reason- 
able prospect  that  they  may  remain  many  years.  They  are 
both  small  of  stature,  my  father  being  only  five  feet  three  or 
four  inches,  and  mother  less;  of  comely  appearance,  amiable, 
affectionate,  charitable,  remarkably  industrious,  skillful  in 
labor  and  judicious  in  business,  and  unsullied  moral  and 
religious  character.  I  have  a  brother,  David  Strang,  two 
years  older  than  myself,  and  a  sister,  Myraette  Loser,  five  years 
younger,  and  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  know  that  there  has  never 
been  a  disagreement  to  amount  to  so  much  as  a  momentary 
coldness  between  any  two  members  of  the  family. 


150  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MOXMONS. 

I  learn  from  many  sources  that  in  childhood  I  exhibited 
extraordinary  mental  imbecility.  Indeed,  if  I  may  credit  what 
is  told  me  on  the  subject,  all  who  knew  me,  except  my  parents, 
thought  me  scarcely  more  than  idiotic.  Several  facts  remain 
in  my  recollection  which  support  this  opinion.  1  well  recollect 
that  school  teachers  not  unfrequently  turned  me  off  with  little 
or  no  attention,  as  though  I  was  too  stupid  to  learn  and  too  dull 
to  feel  neglect,  and  my  school  fellows  did  not  forget  to  add  their 
slight. 

I  doubt  not  my  appearance  at  least  justified  this  opinion.  I 
remember  myself  as  little  disposed  to  play,  seldom  cheerful,  and 
scarcely  ever  taking  the  slightest  interest  in  the  plays  of  others. 
Long  weary  days  I  sat  upon  the  floor,  thinking,  thinking, 
thinking!  occasionally  asking  a  strange,  uninfantile  question 
and  never  getting  an  answer.  My  mind  wandered  over  fields 
that  old  men  shrink  from,  seeking  rest  and  finding  none  till 
darkness  gathered  thick  around  and  I  burst  into  tears  and  cried 
aloud,  and  with  a  voice  scarcely  able  to  articulate  told  my 
mother  that  my  head  ached. 

During  the  first  and  part  of  the  second  year  of  my  life  my 
father's  residence  was  in  that  part  of  Scipio  now  included  in 
Ledyard.  He  left  for  Manlius  in  August,  1815,  when  I  was 
about  seventeen  months  old,  and  with  a  singular  tenacity  of 
memory  I  kept  that  place  so  perfectly  in  memory  that  after 
twenty  years'  absence  I  was  able  to  recognize  the  location  in 
riding  through. 

To  the  present  time  the  recollections  of  my  mother  carry- 
ing me  in  her  arms,  nursing  me,  and  conversing  with  her  sister 
about  me,  and  of  the  road  along  which  they  walked,  and  the 
work  going  on  by  the  roadside,  is  as  distinct  as  the  events  of 
yesterday.  It  is  the  brightest  of  the  few  bright  spots  of  my 
childhood,  the  only  recollection  of  long  years  not  accompanied 
with  a  sensation  of  pain. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  151 

Until  1816  my  parents  remained  in  Manlius,  my  father 
carrying  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Fleming,  an  extensive  farmer  from 
Maryland,  who  also  kept  a  very  popular  tavern  on  the  Great 
Western  turnpike.  I  have  very  few  recollections  of  that 
period  beyond  an  ill-defined  but  strong  attachment  to  several 
members  of  his  family  and  several  of  the  colored  people  he 
brought  there,  though  I  have  seen  very  few  of  them  in  forty 
years,  and  none  of  them  in  thirty-two.  Such  are  the  affections 
of  childhood;  at  least,  they  are  such  with  me. 

In  February,  1816,  my  father  removed  with  his  family  to 
Hanover,  Chautauqua  County,  New  York,  where  he  remained 
twenty  years.  His  first  location  was  two  miles  northeast  of 
Forestville,  and  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  Walnut  Creek,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  road,  at  the  four  corners,  but  a  few  years  of 
the  latter  portion  of  that  period  we  lived  on  Walnut  Creek  flats, 
in  the  same  neighborhood. 

There  I  grew  up,  and  around  that  place  cluster  nearly  all  the 
recollections,  pleasant  and  painful,  of  my  childhood  and  youth. 

On  our  journey  I  remember  Buffalo  as  a  small,  straggling 
village  of  thirty  or  forty  houses,  occupied  as  taverns  and  drink- 
ing shops ;  so  crowded  that  it  was  a  matter  of  favor  to  get  enter- 
tainment; where  the  same  low,  open,  filthy  room  was  used  for 
barroom,  dining  room  and  kitchen,  and  a  few  hours  the  latter 
part  of  the  night  accommodated  as  many  drowsy,  drunken  and 
tired  sleepers  as  could  lie  down  upon  the  floor. 

From  Buffalo  we  went  to  the  mouth  of  Cattaraugus  Creek 
on  the  ice.  Father  was  heavy  loaded  and  obliged  to  travel 
slow.  There  had  been  a  day  or  two  of  mild  weather;  the  snow 
was  melted  on  the  ice  and  had  already  thawed  many  a  treacher- 
ous opening,  and  covered  with  water  as  the  ice  was,  it  was 
difficult  for  a  stranger  to  keep  the  way  over  the  thirty  miles  of 
dreary  waste  of  ice  without  a  landmark. 

To  secure  a  passage  by  daylight  father  got  a  man  who  was 
going  with  a  two-horse  sleigh  and  no  load  but  his  wife  to  take 


152  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

my  mother  and  her  two  children  as  far  as  Cattaraugus.  I  only 
remember  that  the  water  sometimes  came  into  the  sleigh  box, 
that  the  driver  frequently  jumped  the  horses  across  wide 
chasms  in  the  ice,  and  sometimes  found  them  so  wide  that  he 
dare  not  cross  them  and  went  great  distances  around,  and  that 
my  mother  was  terribly  frightened,  and  hugged  my  brother 
and  I  to  her  with  an  almost  suffocating  grasp. 

I  have  since  I  was  grown  up  frequently  heard  her  speak  of 
that  passage  as  having  terrified  her  almost  to  distraction,  a 
terror  much  heightened  by  the  continual  quarrels  and  mutual 
profanity  of  the  couple  with  whom  we  rode. 

We  lost  sight  of  father  immediately  after  starting,  and  next 
saw  him  at  Mack's  tavern,  Cattaraugus.  The  wind  got  into 
the  northwest  the  afternoon  of  the  day  we  started,  and  towards 
night  one  of  the  worst  snowstorms  of  that  latitude  came  on, 
obliterating  in  a  few  minutes  every  vestige  of  track  on  the  ice, 
filling  the  air  so  that  a  man  could  not  see  the  length  of  sled  and 
team,  and  rendering  it  utterly  impossible  to  keep  a  course  even 
for  a  few  rods. 

This  storm  overtook  father  midway  in  the  lake,  about 
twenty  miles  above  Buffalo.  What  he  suffered  and  how  he 
survived  none  can  know,  only  those  who  have  experienced  a 
similar  catastrophe. 

I  only  remember  that  my  mother  cried  incessantly,  and  ever 
and  anon  clasped  my  brother  and  myself  convulsively  in  her 
arms,  till  three  days  passed,  when  he  came  to  us  as  one  from  the 
dead.  Several  reports  of  his  death  had  reached  us,  some  by 
persons  who  had  seen  his  frozen  body.  Whether  some  persons 
had  really  perished  and  been  mistaken  for  him,  or  the  reports 
were  wholly  false,  I  do  not  know,  but  the  former  is  probable. 

From  Cattaraugus  to  my  father's  place  in  the  same  town 
was  then  two  day's  travel,  though  on  an  air  line  not  six  miles. 
The  route  was  by  Sheridan  Center  and  Forestville. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  153 

I  attended  school  the  following  summer  where  the  most 
moderate  qualifications  for  teaching  were  satisfactory.  There 
were  but  two  scholars  who  knew  the  alphabet,  and  none  who 
spelled  "easy  words  of  two  syllables." 

From  this  time  till  I  was  twelve  years  old  I  attended  district 
school  more  or  less  every  year,  but  the  terms  were  usually 
short,  the  teachers  inexperienced  and  ill  qualified  to  teach,  and 
my  health  such  as  to  preclude  attentive  study  or  steady  attend- 
ance. I  estimate  my  attendance  during  the  whole  period  as 
equal  to  six  months'  steady  attendance  with  health  for  study. 

My  parents  had  good  government.  Their  family  were 
raised  without  beating.  I  can  remember  being  very  slightly 
whipped  by  my  father  twice  and  my  mother  once.  My  sister 
was  raised  without  ever  suffering  chastisement  either  at  home 
or  in  school,  and  my  brother's  fortune 

[Here  the  writing  ends  as  if  the  writer  had  been  disturbed,  and  never 
afterward  had  opportunity  to  resume  the  work.] 

Copied  January  27,  1897. 

CHAS.  J.  STRANG, 

Lansing,  Mich. 
II. 

NARRATIVE    OF    LUDLOW    P.    HILL. 

In  his  book  on  "Ancient  and  Modern  Michilimackinac," 
Strang  refers  to  "a  disaffected  family  by  the  name  of  Hill."  The 
writer  became  acquainted  with  a  member  of  this  family, 
Ludlow  P.  Hill,  during  the  summer  of  1896,  while  sojourning 
in  the  picturesque  region  along  the  east  shore  of  Green  Bay. 
Mr.  Hill  was  induced,  after  much  persuasion,  to  give  his  recol- 
lections of  the  Beaver  Island  community.  Though  sixty-six 
years  of  age,  his  memory  was  remarkably  clear,  and  his  narra- 
tive was  told  in  a  straightforward  manner.  Mr.  Hill  is  at 
present  a  resident  of  Wonewoc,  Wis.  Following  narrative 
was  transcribed  from  the  notes  taken  at  the  time  of  the 
interview : 


154  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

When  I  went  to  Beaver  Island  I  was  a  young  man,  who 
had  just  reached  my  majority.  My  family  lived  in  Illinois 
(Elgin),  and  it  was  there  that  my  father  became  acquainted 
with  Strang  and  was  deeply  impressed  with  his  remarkable 
powers.  Strang  induced  him  to  join  his  Beaver  Island  colony 
and  to  invest  his  entire  possessions  there  (about  $10,000). 
That  is  how  I  came  to  go  there,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  family, 
too.  I  was  the  only  member  of  the  family  who  remained  out- 
side the  Mormon  fold,  and  was  the  last  Gentile  on  the  island 
who  resisted  the  authority  of  King  Strang.  In  fact,  I  was  the 
last  Gentile  on  the  island,  but  I  had  to  leave,  too,  for  fny  life  was 
threatened  and  my  stay  was  made  uncomfortable  in  many 
ways.  It  was  not  merely  a  secretly  conveyed  intimation  that 
my  departure  would  add  to  my  personal  comfort;  I  was 
denounced  openly  and  by  name  in  the  tabernacle. 

My  father  found  out  the  charlatanism  of  Strang  soon  after 
reaching  the  island.  Near  the  southern  end  of  the  island  (the 
head)  was  a  splendid  property  known  to  the  Gentiles  as  the 
Cable  property,  but  rechristened  Galilee  by  the  Saints  owing  to 
.the  resemblance,  fancied  or  otherwise,  of  a  small  lake  on  the 
property  to  the  body  of  water  known  to  biblical  readers.  This 
geographical  naming  in  adaptation  of  Bible  places  was  a 
favorite  one  with  the  Mormons.  Enoch  was  a  small  cluster  of 
houses  near  the  bay,  and  west  of  St.  James  was  a  ridge  of  sand 
dignified  into  Mount  Pisgah.  Lake  Galilee  was  one-fourth 
mile  from  the  beach  and  was  remarkably  deep  for  an  inland 
lake. 

When  my  father  joined  the  Beaver  Islanders,  Strang  had 
been  carefully  nursing  his  colony  for  some  time,  and  felt  strong 
enough  to  assume  the  airs,  if  not  the  title  of  dictator,  as  he  later 
did  of  King.  When  my  father  had  located,  he  was  informed 
that  the  place  he  had  bought  would  be  managed  by  another 
Mormon,  who  would  conduct  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  commu- 
nity. He  was  coolly  informed  that  this  other  man,  who  stood 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  155 

close  to  Strang,  had  more  business  ability.  To  resist  'the 
mandate  seemed  sheer  folly  to  my  father,  for  it  meant  ruin. 
Nobody  would  have  bought  him  out,  because  no  Gentiles 
would  venture  into  a  nest  of  pirates,  as  they  regarded  the 
Mormons,  and  the  Mormons,  of  course,  would  not  buy  him 
out — they  preferred  to  freeze  him  out.  Without  their  consent 
nobody  could  carry  on  any  business.  It  was  the  boycott 
refined  to  a  point  of  absolute  perfection  and  success.  In  those 
days  I  was  hot-blooded  and  stubborn,  and  I  wasn't  going  to 
give  up  so  easily.  So  I  determined  to  bid  defiance  to  Strang 
and  his  crowd.  I  had  secured  the  appointment  of  lighthouse 
keeper  and  decided  to  stick  to  my  post  at  all  hazards.  The 
place  paid  very  poorly — I  think  not  to  exceed  $500  per 
annum — but  even  this  was  coveted  by  the  Mormons,  who  were 
determined  upon  complete  control  of  the  island  and  everything 
on  it.  And  they  made  it  hot  enough  for  me,  I  assure  you. 
Had  I  consented  to  be  baptized  and  to  join  the  fold,  it  would 
have  been  pleasant  enough,  but  as  I  have  said,  there  was  a 
grain  of  stubbornness  about  me  that  made  me  hot-headed  and 
defiant.  I  need  not  give  in  detail  the  devices  that  were 
employed  to  make  my  lot  far  from  hum-drum.  I  will  only 
narrate  one  instance.  Orders  came  to  me  from  the  King's 
men  that  under  no  circumstances  must  I  harbor  any  Gentiles, 
or  there  would  be  trouble.  Early  one  raw  morning  there 
came  to  the  beach  in  a  leaky  boat  a  couple  of  half-frozen  and 
half-starved  fishermen,  who  had  been  wave-tossed  in  a  heavy 
sea  for  several  days,  and  asked  food  and  shelter. 

"It's  as  much  as  your  life  is  worth,"  said  I,  "to  be  caught 
here,  and  maybe  I  would  fare  as  bad  if  I  helped  you.  I'll  give 
you  a  bite  to  eat,  though,  but  you  had  better  not  stop  any 
longer  than  necessary,  for  the  Mormons  may  be  here  any 
minute." 

When  they  heard  this  I  didn't  need  to  hurry  them  a  bit;  they 
didn't  even  want  to  stop  for  something  to  eat,  until  I  urged 


156  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

them  to  do  so.  They  had  put  out  into  the  lake  but  a  short  time 
when  there  came  in  hot  haste  to  the  door  six  or  seven  of  the 
guard,  armed  with  guns  and  demanding  if  I  had  seen  any  Gen- 
tiles, or  if  I  had  given  them  any  comfort  or  aid.  I  deemed  it 
prudent  to  buy  safety  at  the  expense  of  veracity,  and  they  left 
vowing  that  if  they  caught  the  men,  whose  boat  they  had 
descried  from  a  distance  as  it  was  coming  to  shore,  they  would 
make  short  work  of  the  intruders. 

I  married  a  Mormon  young  woman,  and  I  may  say  I  have 
never  regretted  the  step.  All  of  her  family  were  Mormons, 
and  they  and  my  father's  family  (all  Mormons  except  myself) 
were  among  those  who  did  not  fall  into  polygamous  ways  on 
the  island.  Yes,  we  were  married  under  rather  unusual  cir- 
cumstances, and  I  got  the  best  of  the  King,  the  deputy  King 
(vice  King),  the  King's  council,  and  all  the  elders,  too.  (Mr. 
Hill  chuckled  as  the  narration  called  up  slumbering  recollec- 
tions.) Yes,  I'll  tell  you  how  it  was,  and  it's  the  truth,  too. 
The  Mormons  were  always  willing  to  marry  a  Gentile  woman 
to  a  Mormon  man,  figuring  that  they  could  bring  enough  influ- 
ence to  bear  on  the  woman  to  attach  her  and  her  children  to  the 
church.  But  when  it  came  to  uniting  a  Gentile  man  with  a 
Mormon  girl,  they  were  inexorable  in  their  refusal.  We  knew 
that,  of  course,  and  Cecelia  (that's  my  wife's  name)  urged  me  to 
be  baptized  and  thus  overcome  the  difficulty. 

"Cecelia,"  said  I,  "I  think  the  world  of  you,  but  a  Mormon 
I'll  never  consent  to  become,  and  that  doesn't  mean,  either,  that 
we  won't  be  married.  I'll  find  some  other  way." 

Now,  although  I  was  a  Gentile,  and  one  whom  the  ruling 
powers  were  only  biding  their  time  to  get  out  of  the  way,  I  had 
a  good  many  friends  among  the  Mormons.  So  I  bided  my 
time.  I  may  mention  here  that  Strang,  with  his  usual  shrewd- 
ness, had,  in  order  to  carry  out  his  schemes  under  forms  of  law, 
brought  about  the  organization  of  the  County  of  Emmet,  to 
include  Beaver  Island,  and  thus  had  control  of  the  whole 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  157 

machinery  of  county  government.  Thus  he  could  elect  a 
Mormon  sheriff,  and  arrest  people  as  he  chose;  could  try  his 
prisoners  before  a  Mormon  jury,  and  a  Mormon  judge  would 
sentence  them  according  to  Mormon  law.  So  every  one  whom 
he  didn't  like  became  an  outlaw,  of  course,  for  he  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  trumping  up  charges.  Strang  also  got  himself  elected 
as  a  member  of  the  legislature,  where  he  could  get  local  laws 
passed  for  Beaver  Island.  When  he  went  to  Lansing  as  a 
member  of  the  legislature,  he  left  his  kingdom  in  charge  of  the 
president  of  his  council.  I  waited  till  Strang  had  gone  to  Lan- 
sing for  the  winter,  and  then  I  proceeded  to  put  my  plans  into 
execution.  It  had  been  suspected,  despite  our  precautions, 
that  Cecelia  and  myself  were  attached  to  each  other,  so  I  went 
to  one  of  the  preachers  whom  I  regarded  as  friendly — a  man 
named  Aldrich — and  asked  him  to  marry  us.  He  looked 
startled  and  said  he  wouldn't  think  of  such  a  thing.  Finally  he 
said  he  would  if  I  would  consent  to  be  baptized.  I  flatly 
declined  this  proposition.  Then  he  said: 

"I'll  go  and  see  Bacon,"  (he  was  the  president  of  the  council 
and  his  word  was  law  when  Strang  was  away).  "I  think  I  can 
induce  him  to  give  his  consent." 

Aldrich  jumped  into  his  sleigh  and  drove  to  the  King's 
house.  He  was  gone  some  time,  and  when  he  came  back  I 
saw  at  once  that  his  mission  had  been  fruitless.  Bacon  had 
positively  refused  to  consent  to  the  marriage. 

It  was  evident  that  I  must  get  at  it  in  another  way.  There 
was  another  Mormon  elder  and  preacher — one  Savage — whose 
friendship  I  had  won,  and  I  went  to  him.  I  told  him  the  cir- 
cumstances and  asked  him  whether  he  would  tie  the  knot 
for  us. 

"It  would  be  ruin  to  me,"  said  he. 

Now,  I  knew  that  for  some  time  Savage  had  been  dis- 
affected, so  I  took  the  cue  from  that  and  worked  at  him  till  I 
persuaded  him  to  perform  the  ceremony  secretly.  You  may 


158  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

be  sure  that  this  was  no  easy  matter,  either,  and  I  swore  by  all 
that  was  holy  that  under -no  circumstances  would  I  betray  him 
as  long  as  there  was  danger  to  him  in  so  doing.  So  after  he 
had  given  his  word,  we  planned  how  we  would  do  it. 

The  young  people  of  the  colony  had  arranged  for  a  party  to 
be  given  at  my  father's  house  on  a  certain  evening,  and  we 
arranged  that  this  circumstance  should  be  taken  advantage  of 
to  consummate  our  plans.  You  see  we  had  to  plan,  for  we 
were  watched.  It  was  a  cold,  clear  starlight  night.  I  remem- 
ber it  well,  although  it  was  more  than  fifty  years  ago.  Within 
the  house  all  was  gaiety  and  noise — the  sound  of  the  fiddle,  the 
patter  of  the  dancers'  shoes  and  the  laughter  of  the  merry  young 
people.  By  a  prearrangement,  Cecelia  and  two  of  our  friends 
who  were  in  the  secret  repaired  to  a  room  up-stairs,  while  I 
went  outdoors.  In  the  shadow  of  a  woodpile  near  by  Elder 
Savage  was  awaiting  my  signal.  He  cautiously  made  his  way 
to  the  house,  went  up  by  a  rear  stairway,  and  I  followed.  In 
that  up-stairs  room,  while  below  there  was  playing  and  dancing 
and  laughter,  Cecelia  and  I  were  united  in  marriage.  Not  a 
member  of  my  family  or  of  my  wife's  family  was  present  or 
knew  anything  about  it.  The  reason  for  keeping  them  igno- 
rant I'll  tell  you  later.  Only  my  wife  and  I,  the  preacher  and 
our  two  witnesses — friends  whom  we  trusted  implicitly,  and 
who,  besides,  would  keep  still  to  save  themselves  from  the  ven- 
geance of  the  Church,  if  for  no  other  reason,  were  present.  The 
ceremony  over,  we  went  down  one  at  a  time  without  exciting 
comment,  the  elder  making  his  exit  unobserved,  and  entering 
the  house  an  hour  later  as  if  he  had  just  arrived  to  take  part  in 
the  festival  of  the  young  people. 

That  is  how  we  were  secretly  married.  To  the  neighbors 
we  behaved  just  as  before.  Cecelia  received  the  attentions  of 
other  young  men,  and  1  was  devoted  to  two  or  three  other 
women.  But  there  was  one  present  whom  we  couldn't  hood- 
wink. She  was  afterwards  one  of  Strang's  wives.  She  was  a 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  159 

remarkably  clever  young  woman,  if  she  did  play  me  a  mean 
trick.  This  young  woman  was  well  educated.  On  one  occa- 
sion when  Strang  went  east  on  a  proselyting  tour,  this  young 
woman  accompanied  him  as  his  secretary,  dressed  as  a  young 
man.  They  visited  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  other  large 
cities,  and  the  deception  of  her  sex  was  never  discovered. 
Well,  this  young  woman  acted  as  a  spy  on  us,  and  by  eaves- 
dropping learned  the  facts  about  our  marriage.  She  revealed 
it  all  to  the  King's  men,  and  Savage  was  summoned  to  appear. 
He  came  to  me  in  great  alarm. 

"We  are  lost.  They  know  everything,"  said  he.  "I  am  a 
ruined  man." 

Now,  I  had  sworn  when  he  promised  to  perform  the  secret 
ceremony  that  I  would  protect  him  at  all  hazards.  So  I  set  my 
brains  to  work  and  I  unfolded  a  plan  to  him  for  getting  out  of 
the  scrape.  I  had  heard  that  King  Strang  had  on  one  occasion 
secretly  baptized  a  Gentile,  so  I  said  to  Savage:  "Tell  them 
that  you  secretly  baptized  me  before  you  performed  the  mar- 
riage ceremony,  and  if  they  won't  accept  that  sort  of  a  cere- 
mony as  valid,  plead  as  justification  that  you  followed  the  high 
example  set  by  Strang." 

The  trial  was  a  long  drawn  out  affair.  My  parents  were 
summoned.  They  truthfully  said  that  they  were  as  much  sur- 
prised as  anybody  to  hear  that  we  were  a  married  couple,  not 
having  been  present  or  even  apprised  as  to  the  ceremony.  My 
brother  gave  the  same  testimony,  which  let  them  out  from  pun- 
ishment. Until  Elder  Savage's  turn  came,  the  prosecution 
rested  on  the  eavesdropping  information  obtained  by  Strarig's 
future  wife. 

When  it  came  to  Savage's  turn,  he  readily  admitted  having 
performed  the  marriage  rites,  and  the  drawn  brows  and  black- 
looks  of  the  councillors  were  not  cheerful  premonitions  of  his 
fate.  When  he  went  on  to  tell,  however,  that  he  had  not  done 
so  until  he  had  baptized  me  a  Mormon,  there  was  a  murmur  of 


160  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

astonishment.  Savage  added  that  in  doing  so  he  had  not 
erred,  for  he  had  but  followed  the  example  of  the  head  of  the 
community,  who,  of  course,  could  do  no  wrong. 

This  was  a  poser  for  those  who  wanted  to  condemn  Savage 
to  the  rigors  of  the  Mormon  canon.  Though  unconvinced, 
they  could  hardly  convict  Savage  for  doing  what  their  own 
high  priest  had  done;  so  Savage  escaped  punishment.  He 
hadn't  strictly  told  the  truth,  nor  had  I,  but  when  men's  lives 
and  property  are  the  issue,  one  doesn't  view  moral  questions 
from  the  same  standpoint  as  ordinarily. 

But  Savage  did  not  feel  safe.  He  secretly  prepared  for 
early  departure,  and  early  in  the  spring,  with  a  few  followers 
who  were  as  discontented  as  himself  with  Mormon  rule  as 
expounded  on  Beaver  Island,  stole  away  in  Mackinac  boats. 
The  refugees  went  to  the  main  shore,  building  cabins  on  the 
site  of  the  town  of  Charlevoix.  Strang  was  not  disposed  to 
permit  his  prey  to  escape  so  easily.  His  Mormon  sheriff  sum- 
moned a  Mormon  posse  and  went  after  the  seceders  on  pretext 
of  summoning  them  as  jurors.  Thus,  under  cover  of  law,  he 
could  get  his  subject  back  to  the  island,  where  he  could  do 
whatever  his  vindictive  spirit  might  suggest.  Savage,  of 
course,  saw  through  the  artifice.  When  the  sheriff's  posse 
appeared  at  his  log  hut  with  the  warrant,  Savage  tore  the  paper 
into  shreds,  threw  them  under  his  feet  and  stamped  on  the 
fragments.  The  Mormon  officers  then  tried  to  arrest  him  for 
resisting  their  lawful  authority.  Savage  seized  his  gun,  his 
companions  hurried  to  his  rescue  with  their  weapons,  and  the 
Mormon  officers  turned  tail  and  ran.  A  pursuing  volley 
wounded  one  of  them  in  the  wrist  and  another  in  the  groin. 
They  managed  to  put  out  in  their  boat,  pursued  by  their  now 
thoroughly  aroused  assailants,  but  the  opportune  appearance 
of  a  vessel  enabled  them  to  escape  by  appealing  to  her  captain 
for  protection. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  »          161 

It  was  evident  to  Savage  that  to  remain  on  the  mainland 
opposite  the  island  whence  he  had  fled  was  to  invite  annihila- 
tion, for  he  knew  Strang  would  never  rest  till  he  had  hunted 
him  down.  The  refugees  placed  their  belonging  and  families 
aboard  the  steamer  "Little  Columbia,"  from  Buffalo  to  Green 
Bay,  and  arranged  to  meet  the  boat  beyond  Beaver  Island, 
after  her  departure  from  St.  James.  As  usual,  the  steamer  put 
into  the  harbor  at  St.  James,  and  the  Mormons  crowded 
aboard.  The  families  of  the  refugees  kept  close  to  their  cabins 
and  remained  unobserved.  All  went  well  till  one  of  the  Mor- 
mons noticed  the  names  on  some  of  the  boxes.  At  once  there 
was  great  commotion,  and  the  seizure  of  the  vessel  was 
ordered.  The  captain's  promptness  in  getting  out  of  the 
harbor  prevented  this. 

In  the  meantime  the  male  contingent  had  sailed  around  to 
the  southern  end  of  the  island,  and  made  a  stop  at  my  place. 
They  were  overjoyed  to  see  me,  and  we  told  each  other  what 
had  happened  since  last  we  had  met.  I  proposed  to  the  men  a 
plan  for  the  overthrow  of  the  kingdom.  If  they  hadn't  lacked 
the  nerve,  the  career  of  the  prophet-king  and  his  reign  would 
have  been  cut  short  a  few  years  sooner  than  it  was.  Near  by  in 
the  woods  were  some  seven  or  eight  Mormons  of  the  worst 
stripe  engaged  in  cutting  timber.  I  proposed  that  we  sally 
forth,  pick  our  men,  surprise  them  and  then  shoot  them  down. 
As  fast  as  others  came  we  could  serve  them  the  same  way,  and 
if  a  large  force  should  arrive,  we  could  barricade  ourselves  in 
the  house  and  pick  off  the  men  at  leisure.  I  knew  there  were 
disaffected  men  in  the  community  who  would  lead  an  uprising 
if  they  could  get  a  good  chance.  I  believed  it  practicable  to 
thus  overthrow  the  kingdom.  But  they  wouldn't  take  the 
risk.  They  departed  to  join  their  families,  and  succeeded  in 
doing  so.  On  Washington  Island,  at  the  mouth  of  Green  Bay, 
they  made  their  homes;  and  some  of  their  descendants  live 
there  to-dav. 


1(52  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

it  was  not  long  after  this  that  I  left  Beaver  Island.  Events 
there  were  becoming  rather  too  warm  even  for  me.  To  entrap 
me  into  his  net,  Strang  had  me  summoned  as  a  grand  juror 
immediately  after  Savage  and  his  companions  shot  his  officers. 
It  was  the  first  grand  jury  that  ever  met  on  Beaver  Island. 
There  I  was  placed  in  the  position  of  voting  to  indict  my  best 
friends  for  doing  something  that  grew  directly  out  of  circum- 
stances brought  about  by  myself.  Of  course,  I  didn't  hesitate 
to  do  so.  I  knew  the  birds  would  be  flown,  and  I  didn't  pro- 
pose to  fall  into  the  pit  dug  for  me.  I  saw,  however,  that  it  was 
dangerous  to  remain  where  I  was,  and  I  received  numerous 
warnings  of  the  fate  that  lay  in  store  for  me.  Men  had  disap- 
peared before,  and  no  one  was  the  wiser.  Houses  had  gone  up 
in  smoke  and  there  was  no  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the 
flames.  I  quietly  made  my  arrangements  and  silently  hied  me 
away. 

Strang  was  in  many  respects  a  remarkable  man.  He  was 
small  and  spare,  but  as  a  speaker  he  towered  like  a  giant.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  fascinating  orators  imaginable..  He  wore 
a  very  heavy  beard  of  reddish  tinge,  and  his  hair  was  red,  too. 
He  had  dark  eyes,  that  looked  at  one  on  occasion  as  though 
they  could  bore  right  through.  They  were  set  close  together, 
under  wide  projecting  brows,  from  which  rose  a  massive  fore- 
head. Add  to  this  a  thin  hatchet  face,  and  you  have  a  group- 
ing of  features  that  would  attract  attention  anywhere.  His 
oratory  was  of  the  fervid,  impassioned  sort  that  would  carry 
his  audience  with  him  every  time.  His  words  came  out  in  a 
torrent;  he  could  work  himself  into  emotional  spells  at  will,  the 
sincerity  of  his  words  being  attested  by  tears  when  necessary  to 
produce  that  effect,  or  by  infectious  laughter  when  his  mood 
was  merry.  He  had  what  is  known  as  magnetism,  too,  and 
could  be  one  of  the  most  companionable  of  men.  His  influ- 
ence over  his  followers  was  unbounded.  He  was  certainly  a 
man  of  unusual  talents  in  many  respects.  Had  he  chosen  to 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  163 

use  them  for  good,  lie  would  have  left  a  great  impress  upon  his 
country.  When  I  was  a  young  lad  I  heard  him  in  a  debate 
with  a  Catholic  speaker  in  Elgin,  111.  It  was  to  have  been  a 
three-days'  debate.  The  priest  brought  up  a  number  of  news- 
paper stories  to  confound  his  adversary.  In  reply  Strang  con- 
fined himself  entirely  to  the  Scriptures.  He  so  thoroughly  dis- 
comfited his  adversary  in  the  debate  that  the  next  evening  the 
priest  failed  to  appear,  and  the  judges  awarded  the  verdict  to 
Strang. 

III. 

MRS.    CECELIA    HILL'S    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Personal  recollections  of  Mrs.  Cecelia  Hill,  wife  of  Ludlow 
P.  Hill,  in  an  interview  during  the  summer  of  1896: 

My  parents  were  Mormons  who  were  captured  by  the 
oratory  of  Strang  and  followed  him  to  Beaver  Island.  I  was 
fifteen  years  old  at  the  time.  I  was  present  when  Strang  was 
crowned  King.  The  ceremony  took  place  in  the  tabernacle,  a 
building  about  eighty  feet  long,  constructed  of  hewn  logs  and 
but  partly  completed  at  the  time  of  the  coronation.  Like  any 
young  woman  under  similar  circumstances,  I  was  anxious  to 
be  present  and  managed  to  get  into  the  tabernacle.  At  one 
end  was  a  platform,  and  towards  it  marched  the  procession  of 
elders  and  other  quorums,  escorting  the  King.  First  came  the 
King,  dressed  in  a  robe  of  bright  red,  and  accompanied  by  his 
council.  Then  followed  the  twelve  elders,  the  seventy  and  the 
minor  orders  of  the  ministry,  or  quorums,  as  they  were  called. 
The  people  were  permitted  to  occupy  what  space  remained  in 
the  tabernacle. 

The  chief  ceremonials  were  performed  by  Geo.  J.  Adams, 
president  of  the  council  of  elders.  Adams  was  a  man  of 
imposing  presence.  He  was  over  six  feet  tall  and  he  towered 
over  the  short-statured  King,  who,  however,  made  up  in  intel- 


164  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

lect  what  he  lacked  in  frame.  Adams  had  been  an  actor,  and 
he  succeeded  in  making-  the  crowning  of  the  King  a  very 
imposing  ceremony.  It  ended  by  placing  upon  the  auburn 
head  of  Strang  a  crown  of  metal.  The  crown  was  a  plain 
circlet,  with  a  cluster  of  stars  projecting  in  front. 

It  was  July  8th  that  this  ceremony  occurred,  and  every 
recurring  8th  of  July  was  known  as  the  King's  Day  and  w.is 
celebrated  as  a  holiday  with  many  festivities.  The  entire  pop- 
ulation of  the  island  would  gather  at  a  place  in  the  woods  tc  go 
through  prescribed  ceremonials — the  hewers  of  wood  and  the 
drawers  of  water  to  make  proper  obeisance  to  the  King.  There 
were  burnt  offerings  to  begin  with.  The  head  of  each  family 
brought  a  fowl  and  a  heifer  was  thereupon  killed.  Its  body 
was  dissected  without  breaking  a  bone.  After  these  ceremo- 
nials there  was  feasting  and  rejoicing  and  the  people  danced  on 
the  greensward.  King's  Day  was  the  same  with  the  islanders 
as  the  Fourth  of  July  is  with  us. 

The  Mormons  under  Strang  strove  to  follow  strictly  the  old 
Mosaic  law.  Every  man  who  went  with  Strang  was  given  "an 
inheritance."  The  tithing  system  was  in  full  effect.  The  first- 
ling of  every  flock  and  the  first  fruits  of  the  orchard  and  the 
field  were  due  to  the  King's  court.  Every  one  who  went  into 
the  church  was  compelled  to  give  as  his  first  contribution  one- 
tenth  of  all  his  possessions.  The  people  believed  in  the  Mosaic 
law  implicitly,  even  to  the  stoning  of  a  rebellious  child.  There 
was  a  fisherman  named  Bennett,  who  resisted  and  wounded  a 
Mormon  officer  and  was  shot  to  death.  In  following  out  the 
injunction  to  throw  a  stone  upon  the  grave  of  any  man  guilty  of 
shedding  the  blood  of  the  Saints,  a  pile  of  stones  was  heaped 
upon  his  grave  big  enough  for  a  monument.  When  the  fisher- 
men raided  the  island  after  Strang's  death,  they  compelled  the 
Mormons  to  pick  every  one  of  these  stones  off  the  grave  of 
Bennett  and  cast  them  into  the  lake.  Most  of  the  subjects  of 
Strang  were  Americans,  and  many  of  them  were  sincere,  earn- 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  165 

est  and  intelligent.  The  head  men  were,  I  believe,  imposters 
who  sought  to  live  off  the  labor  of  others.  I  have  already  men- 
tioned Adams,  the  actQr.  He  was  chief  in  authority  when 
Strang  was  away.  Afterwards  he  became  disgruntled  and 
went  into  the  prophet  business  on  his  own  account.  He  led  a 
band  of  Mormons  to  Africa  and  abandoned  them  there.  After 
Adams  left  one  Bacon  was  the  King  pro  tern.  Gen.  Miller  was 
the  chief  in  military  authority.  He  had  been  a  bishop  of  the 
church  at  Nauvoo,  and  came  with  two  wives.  He  married 
another  one  on  the  island — a  young  woman,  although  he  was 
an  old  gray-haired  man.  I  think  Strang  had  five  wives,  and 
his  death  prevented  his  adding  two  more  to  the  list — two  sis- 
ters. His  first  wife's  maiden  name  was  Perse,  his  second 
Alvina  Fields.  His  third  we  knew  as  Aunt  Betsy,*  and  is,  I 
believe,  still  living.  When  Chicago  was  destroyed  by  fire  she 
said  that  "James  prophesied  it,"  and  took  it  as  a  judgment  for 
the  persecution  of  her  husband.  She  never  lost  faith  in  her 

husband. 

IV. 

THE    BATTLE    ON    THE    LAKE. 

E.  S.  Stone  was  the  captain  of  the  bark  aboard  which 
Mormon  fugitives  sought  refuge  when  pursued  by  the  Gentile 
fishermen  of  Pine  River.  I  am  indebted  to  Col.  George  P. 
Mathes,  of  Milwaukee,  for  permission  to  use  following  narra- 
tive, dictated  by  Capt.  Stone  for  the  manuscript  collection  of 
Col.  Mathes: 

In  the  year  1852,  while  on  my  trip  up  from  Buffalo  to 
Chicago  on  the  bark  Morgan,  in  passing  through  the  Straits  of 
Mackinaw  one  very  calm  summer  afternoon,  when  about  half- 
way between  Beaver  Island  and  Pine  River  on  the  main  land 
(south  shore),  and  while  at  dinner  in  the  cabin,  we  heard  great 
firing  of  guns ;  and  on  rushing  on  deck,  saw  a  small  fleet  of  row- 

*  September  22,  1897.— While  this  paper  Is  In  press,  the  telegraphic  news  In 
the  dally  papers  announces  ths  death  of  "Aunt  Betsy,"  the  polygamous  third 
wife  of  James  Strang. 


166  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

boats  on  the  surface  of  the  calm  water  coming  toward  our 
vessel  from  the  south  shore.  They  were  evidently  in  a  fierce 
battle,  and  viewing  them  through  my  spyglass,  1  saw  that  there 
were  three  Mackinaw  boats  filled  with  men  fleeing  from  some 
larger  barges,  double  banked  with  oars,  that  were  rapidly  gain- 
ing on  the  smaller  boats,  and  firing  on  them  as  fast  as  they 
could  load  and  fire.  When  the  smaller  boats  got  near  enough 
to  hail  us,  they  asked  us  for  God's  sake  to  take  them  on  board 
and  save  them  from  being  murdered,  as  they  were  completely 
exhausted  and  could  pull  no  longer  and  were  being  shot  t.> 
pieces.  Of  course,  common  humanity  compelled  me  to  grant 
their  request,  and  as  they  pulled  alongside  to  be  taken  on  board, 
the  bullets  flying  thick  about  them,  and  some  striking  the  bows 
of  the  vessel  as  they  pulled  behind  it,  the  boats  in  chase  hailed 
me,  demanding  that  I  should  drive  them  off,  as  they  were 
Mormons,  robbers  and  thieves,  and  they  wanted  to  kill  every 
one  of  them ;  and  if  I  did  not  do  so  they  would  fire  into  my 
vessel,  which  threat  I  knew  they  dared  not  carry  out.  In 
taking  the  Mormons  on  board,  I  found  all  of  them  armed  with 
rifles,  and  the  first  one  as  he  stepped  on  board  turned  and  said : 
"Xow,  we  will  give  it  to  them."  I  caught  and  disarmed  him 
and  all  the  rest  as  they  came  over  the  rail.  When  they  were  all 
on  board  I  asked  the  fishermen  from  Pine  River  to  come 
nearer  and  talk  with  me,  which  they  did,  but  not  near  enough 
to  be  recognized,  as  there  were  some  on  both  sides  that  knew 
me  and  called  me  by  name.  The  fishermen  claimed  that  the 
Mormons  were  the  aggressors,  which  the  Mormons  denied, 
saying  they  had  not  fired  a  shot,  and  showed  me  their  guns 
were  all  loaded.  I  found  that  out  of  the  fifteen  Mormons  that 
were  in  the  Mackinaw  boats,  eight  were  severely  wounded, 
their  boats  were  riddled  with  bullets  and  bespattered  with 
blood,  and  the  water  in  the  bottom  of  the  boats  very  bloody; 
and  it  seemed  almost  a  miracle  that  none  of  them  were  killed. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  167 

An  oar  pulled  by  one  of  them  was  struck  by  three  bullets,  yet 
the  man  was  unhurt. 

The  fishermen  laid  by  on  their  oars  for  some  time  watching 
us,  and  finally,  when  they  got  tired  of  waiting  for  the  Mormons 
to  leave  the  vessel,  pulled  back  to  their  home  at  Pine  River. 
We  dressed  the  wounds  of  the  Mormons  the  best  we  could  and 
fed  them,  and  at  night,  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  they  got 
into  their  boats  and  pulled  for  their  homes  on  Beaver  Island. 

When  I  arrived  in  Chicago  I  gave  to  a  reporter  rather  a 
burlesque  account  of  a  sea  fight  between  the  " Latter  Day 
Saints"  and  the  ''Gentiles,"  which  was  not  much  relished  by 
King  Strang.  However,  the  Mormons  as  a  body  were  very 
grateful  for  their  rescue,  and  later  in  the  fall,  when  I  was 
obliged  to  run  into  Beaver  Harbor  for  safety  in  a  storm,  they 
gave  a  ball  and  banquet  in  my  honor,  and  I  led  the  first  dance 
with  King  Strang's  favorite  wife.  The  women  were  all 
dressed  in  calico  bloomers,  and  the  costumes  of  the  men  were 
equally  odd  and  conspicuous. 

There  had  long  been  bad  blood  between  the  Mormons  and 
the  Gentiles,  and  this  particular  battle  was  caused  by  the  setting 
off  of  a  new  county  in  what  was  then  called  Northern  Michi- 
gan, including  Beaver  Island,  many  other  islands,  Mackinaw, 
and  nearly  a  hundred  miles  of  the  south  shore.  In  organizing 
the  county  and  electing  its  officers  the  Mormons  had  held  an 
election  on  Beaver  Island  and  elected  their  officers,  claiming 
that  as  the  county  seat,  while  the  Gentiles  had  held  an  election 
at  Mackinaw  and  elected  their  officers,  and  claimed  a  legal 
election  and  the  county  seat.  At  this  time  the  Mormon 
county  judge  had  issued  a  mandamus,  or  something  of  the 
kind,  for  a  grand  jury,  and  claimed  the  jurors  were  drawn  from 
different  parts  of  the  county  and  had  been  summoned  to  appear 
at  Beaver  Island,  which  they  had  failed  to  do,  and  the  Mormon 
sheriff  had  been  ordered  to  go  over  to  the  main  land  with 
this  posse  and  arrest  the  jurors  and  bring  them  over  to  Beaver 


168  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

Island.  When  they  reached  Pine  River  and  began  to  make 
the  arrests,  they  resisted  and  the  fight  commenced.  The  Gen- 
tiles claimed  that  the  "Latter  Day  Saints,"  finding  them  too 
much  for  them,  fired  and  ran,  and  took  to  their  boats,  and  got 
such  a  start  before  they  got  organized  and  in  their  boats  that 
they  were  first  able  to  reach  the  Morgan  and  save  their  lives. 
But  the  war  still  continued  after  this  encounter,  until  the 
Mormons,  getting  the  worst  of  it,  appealed  to  the  United  States 
government  for  protection,  and  the  frigate  Michigan  was  sent 
to  remove  all  the  Mormons  from  Beaver  Island  to  Wisconsin. 
When  they  got  there  some  renounced  the  faith  and  some 
imigrated  to  Salt  Lake,  and  King  Strang  had  not  enough  of  a 
following  to  organize  a  new  community,  and  I  do  not  remem- 
ber what  finally  became  of  him. 

E.  S.  STONE, 
By  MRS.  STONE. 

P.  s.—  Mr.  Stone  has  been  very  ill,  but  being  much  better,  yet  not  quite 
equal  to  writing,  has  dictated  this  to  me  and  I  have  written  it  in  haste. 

MRS-  E.  L.  STONE. 


V. 

INTERVIEW  WITH  JUDGE  LYON. 

Interview  with  Judge  William  Penn  Lyon,  of  the  Wisconsin 
Supreme  Court: 

I  lived  at  Burlington  and  knew  Strang  well.  He  was  an 
eccentric  man,  but  a  shrewd  and  able  one  in  many  respects. 
How  he  drew  so  many  men  of  intelligence  under  his  influence 
is  one  of  the  strange  circumstances  which  we  know  to  be,  but 
can  not  explain.  I  have  no  doubt  most  of  his  converts  were 
sincere — they  would  hardly  have  given  up  all  they  possessed 
otherwise.  My  partner  Barnes  always  believed  Strang  to  be 
sincere,  too,  and  he  was  a  man  of  intelligence  and  penetration. 
Strang  converted  some  of  the  best  people  of  Burlington  to 
Mqrmonism.  Among  them  I  may  mention  Wm.  Aldrich, 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MOKMONS.  169 

whose  son  has  since  served  a  term  or  two  in  the  legislature; 
Hale,  whose  son  became  eminent  as  a  geologist,  and  Titus  G. 
Fish. 

VI. 

THE  BURIED  PLATES  OF  LABAN. 

From  the  "Revelations  of  James  J.  Strang,"  as  compiled  by 
Wingfield  Watson,  of  Spring  Prairie: 

(Revelation  given  to  James  J.  Strang,  September  1,  1845.) 

1.  The  angel  of  the  Lord  came  unto  me,  James,  on  the 
first  day  of  September,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
five,  and  the  light  shinecl  about  him  above  the  brightness  of  the 
sun,  and  he  showed  unto  me  the  plates  of  the  sealed  record,  and 
he  gave  into  my  hands  the  Urim  and  Thummin,  and  out  of  the 
light  came  the  voice  of  the  Lord  saying:     "My  servant  James, 
in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in  multiplying  I  will  multiply 
thee,  because  I  have  tried  thee  and  found  thee  faithful.     Behold 
my  servant  James,  I  am  about  to  bless  thee  with  a  great  bless- 
ing, which  shall  be  to  those  that  love  me  an  immutable  testi- 
mony, to  those  who  know  me  not  a  stumbling  block;  but  to 
those  who  have  known  me  and  have  turned  their  hearts  from 
me  a  rock  of  offense.     Yea,  let  them  beware,  for  shame  and 
destruction  walk  in  their  tracks,  and  their  time  abideth  but  not 
long. 

2.  A  work  shall  come  forth,  and  the  secrets  of  the  past 
shalt  thou  reveal.     Yea,  by  little  and  little  shalt  thou  reveal  it, 
according  to  the  ability  and  faithfulness  of  my  church  and  of 
my  servants  whom  I  have  placed  above  them.     Behold  the 
record  which  was  sealed  from  my  servant  Joseph,  unto  thee  it  is 
reserved.     Take  heed  that  thou  count  it  not  a  light  thing,  nor 
exalt  thyself,  lest  thou  be  stricken ;  for  by  myself  I  swear  that 
as  thou  servest  my  faithfully  and  comest  not  short,  thou  shalt 
unlock  the  mysteries  thereof  which  I  have  kept  hid  from  the 


170  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

world.     Yea,  as  my  servants  serve  me  so  shalt  thou  translate 
unto  them. 

3.  But  in  their  weakness  I  have  not  forgotten  them.     Go 
to  the  place  which  the  angel  of  the  presence  shall  show  'thee, 
and  there  shalt  thou  dig  for  the  record  of  my  people  in  whose 
possessions  thou  dwellest.     Take  with  thee  faithful  witnesses, 
for  in  evil  will  the  unfaithful  speak  of  thee;  but  the  faithful  and 
true  shall  know  that  they  are  liars  and  shall  not  stumble  for 
their  words. 

4.  Speak  thou  unto  the  elders  of  my  church  and  say  unto 
them:     Hear  my  voice,  and  harken  unto  my  words,  for  they 
are    true    and    faithful.     Testify,  testify  unto  all    the    saints. 
Testify,  testify  in  all  the  world.     He  that  rejecteth  you,  him  will 
I  reject  in  the  day  that  I  come  in  my  kingdom.     Testify,  testify 
unto  him  who  has  received  my  word  and  turned  away.     Let 
him  now  return  unto  me,  and  obey  and  serve  his  God,  lest  he  be 
smitten  with  a  curse,  and  his  children  curse  him,  and  his  name 
be  blotted  out  of  the  book  of  life. 

5.  Yea,  those  to  whom  I  have  revealed  myself,  let  them 
hearken  unto  me  now,  lest  they  be  cast  off  in  the  day  of  my 
indignation,  lest  the  consuming  fire  of  the  day  of  trial  burn 
them  up.     Yea,  lest  the  second  death  make  them  his  prey,  and 
they  be  cast  into  the  lake  that  burns  with  fire  and  brimstone. 

6.  Rejoice,  ye  holy,  for  the  day  of  your  deliverance  is  near, 
and  the  time  of  your  exaltation  is  at  hand.     Faithful  and  true 
are  my  words,  dividing  the  marrow  from  the  bones  and  truth 
from  rottenness.     He  that  rejecteth  them,  will  I  reject  when  I 
come  in  my  kingdom.      And  while  I  was  yet  in  the  spirit,  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  took  me  away  to  the  hill  in  the  east  of  Wai- 
worth,  against  White  River  in  Voree,  and  there  he  showed  unto 
me  the  record,  buried  under  an  oak  tree  as  large  as  the  body  of 
a  large  man.  It  was  enclosed  in  an  earthen  casement, and  buried 
in  the  ground  as  deep  as  to  a  man's  waist;  and  I  beheld  it  as  a 
man  can  see  a  light  stone  in  clear  water;  for  I  saw  it  by  Urim 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  171 

and  Thummim,  and  I  returned  the  Urim  and  Thummim  to  the 

angel  of  the  Lord  and  he  departed  out  of  my  sight. 

(Translation   of    the  Voree    Record  by    the  Prophet  Janies,   by    Urim   and 
Thummim,  September  18,  1845,  as  revealed  in  the  foregoing  revelation. ) 

1.  My  people  are  no  more.     The  mighty  are  fallen  and  the 
young  slain  in  battle.     Their  bones  bleached  on  the  plain  by 
the  noonday  shadow.     The  houses  are  leveled  to  the  dust,  and 
in  the  moat  are  the  walls.     They  shall  be  inhabited.     I  have  in 
the  burial  served  them,  and  their  bones  in  the  death  shade 
toward  the   sun's   rising  are   covered.     They   sleep   with   the 
mighty  dead,  and  they  rest  with  their  fathers.     They   have 
fallen  in  transgression  and  are  not,  but  the  elect  and  faithful 
there  shall  dwell. 

2.  The  word  hath  revealed  it.     Gocl  hath  sworn  to  give  an 
inheritance  to  his  people  where  transgressors  perished.     The 
word  of  God  came  to  me  while  I  mourned  in  the  deathshade, 
saying,  I  will  avenge  me  on  the  destroyer.     He  shall  be  driven 
out.     Other   strangers   shall   inhabit   the   land.     I   an   ensign 
there  will  set  up.     The  escaped  of  my  people  there  shall  dwell, 
when  the  flock  disown  the  shepherd  and  build  not  on  the  rock. 

3.  The  forerunner  men  shall   kill,  but  a  mighty  prophet 
there  shall  dwell.     I  will  be  his  strength,  and  he  shall  bring 
forth  thy  record.     Record  my  words  and  bury  it  in  the  hill  of 
promise. 

4.  The  record  of  Rajah  Manchore  of  Vorito. 

VOREE    PLATES. 
(Description  of  one  side  of  one  of  the  Voree  Plates. ) 

ist.  An  eye.  The  symbol  of  God,  who  is  all-seeing:  con- 
sequently it  is  called  the  all-seeing  eye,  and  has  been  used  as 
symbolical  of  the  Deity  in  all  countries,  and  in  all  ages  of  the 
world. 

2cl.  The  figure  of  a  man  down  to  the  waist  having  a  crown 
resembling  a  cap,  and  composed  of  radiating  lines,  on  his  head; 


{£&*$*•!&?  ^S?*^ 


FACSIMILE  OF  CHARACTERS  TRACED  ON  THE 
VOREE  PLATES. 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  173 

and  a  scepter  in  his  hand.  These  are  symbols  of  authority,  and 
shew  him  a  ruler.  As  he  has  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  (all  the 
natural  lights)  below  him,  and  only  the  all-seeing  eye  above 
him,  he  is  prophet,  seer,  revelator,  translator,  and  first  presi- 
dent of  the  church — governing  not  by  natural  light,  or  mere 
human  wisdom,  but  by  revelation  or  the  word  of  God,  and 
derives  his  authority  solely  from  God,  and  not  in  any  sense 
from  the  actions  of  men. 

3d.  The  sun  on  the  right  and  the  moon  on  the  left.  These 
represent  the  two  vice-presidents,  or  counsellors  in  the  first 
presidency;  the  two  largest  natural  lights  being  used  as  sym- 
bols, because  they  are  to  assist  the  first  president  in  wisdom,  or 
natural  light  merely,  and  not  by  revelation. 

4th.  A  cross  pillar  above  and  resting  upon  the  center  large 
star,  and  under  the  human  figure,  two  pillars  above  and  resting 
upon  the  two  upper  large  stars,  and  below  and  between  the  sun 
and  the  moon.  These  represent  coadjutors,  assistants  or  helps, 
of  whom  there  have  been  several  since  the  beginning  of  the 
church,  appointed  by  revelation. 

5th.  Twelve  stars,  six  around  the  sun  and  six  around  the 
moon.  These  represent  the  High  Council  of  the  church.  The 
division  into  classes  of  six  each  agrees  with  established  usages 
in  the  church,  one-half  to  stand  up  for  the  accuser,  and  the 
other  for  the  accused.  This  is  not  the  high  council  of  the  state. 

6th.  Twelve  large  stars.  Ten  of  these  in  two  rows  at  the 
bottom  of  the  plate,  and  the  other  two  over  them,  nearly 
between  the  sun  and  moon.  They  represent  the  twelve 
apostles.  These  stars  are  larger  than  those  which  represent 
the  High  Council  of  the  Church,  because  the  apostles  have  a 
more  important  ministry;  but  are  placed  below  them  because 
they  are  subject  to  their  discipline,  and  below  the  symbols  of 
the  first  presidency  because  they  are  subject  to  its  directions. 

7th.  Seventy  small  stars  immediately  within  the  points  of 
the  twelve  large  ones,  being  six  to  each  except  the  center  one, 


174  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

which  has  only  four.  They  represent  the  seventies,  who  are 
subject  to  the  direction  of  the  twelve  apostles. 

8th.  A  straight  line  dropping-  down  before  the  scepter. 
''Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  behold  I  lay  in  Zion  for  a 
foundation  a  stone,  a  tried  stone,  a  precious  corner  stone,  a  sure 
foundation :  he  that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste.  Judgment 
also  will  I  lay  to  the  line  and  righteousness  to  the  plummet ;  and 
the  hail  shall  sweep  away  the  refuge  of  lies,  and  the  waters  shall 
overflow  the  hiding  place." 

"Thus  he  shewed  me;  and  behold  the  Lord  stood  upon  a 
wall  made  by  a  plumb-line,  with  a  plumb-line  in  his  hand.  And 
the  Lord  said  unto  me,  Amos,  what  seest  thou?  And  I  said,  a 
plumb-line.  Then  said  the  Lord,  Behold  I  will  set  a  plumb- 
line  in  the  midst  of  my  people  Israel:  I  will  not  again  pass  by 
them  any  more." 

These  symbols  were  all  prophetic  of  the  order  that  will 
exist  in  the  fullness  of  times.  Thus  God  in  His  goodness  to 
those  who  lived  in  days  past  has  shown  them  not  only  the  rest 
which  He  had  in  reservation  for  them,  but  the  perfectness  of 
the  means  by  which  He  will  accomplish  it.  Probably  now  we 
understand  it  in  part,  but  in  times  to  come  we  shall  "know  as 
we  are  known." 


The  Voree  plates  have  disappeared.  Chas.  J.  Strang  writes 
concerning  them:  "I  do  not  know  where  the  plates  are.  I 
never  saw  them."  Wingfield  Watson  writes:  "'The  three 
Voree  plates  are  in  the  hands  of  some  one  of  Mr.  Strang's 
family,  whose  address  I  do  not  now  know." 

VII. 
STRANG'S  BOOKS  AND  PAMPHLETS. 

Owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  royal  press  at  Beaver 
Island,  by  the  torch,  when  the  fishermen  expelled  the  Mor- 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  175 

mons,  copies  of  the  books,  pamphlets  and  newspapers  pub- 
lished by  King  Strang  are  excessively  scarce.  Of  the  "Book 
of  the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  Strang's  most  important  book,  there 
are  probably  not  to  exceed  a  dozen  copies  in  existence.  Chas. 
J.  Strang,  of  Lansing;  L.  D.  Hickey,  of  Coldwater,  Mich.; 
Wingfield  Watson,  of  Spring  Prairie,  Wis.,  and  the  writer  each 
possess  one.  A  copy  is  to  be  found  in  each  of  following- 
libraries:  Congressional,  Washington,  D.  C;  State  Library 
of  Michigan,  Lansing;  Wisconsin  Historical  Society's  Library, 
Madison. 

Not  one  complete  file  of  the  "Northern  Islander"  or  "Voree 
Herold"  is  known  to  be  in  existence.  The  latter  comprised  five 
volumes,  issued  the  first  year  as  a  monthly  and  afterwards 
weekly.  Its  name  was  changed  subsequently  to  "Gospel 
Herald"  and  "Zion's  Reveille."  A  partial  set  is  owned  by  the 
Wisconsin  Historical  Society,  and  a  few  scattering  copies  are 
owned  respectively  by  Chas.  J.  Strang  and  the  writer.  The 
paper  was  published  at  Voree,  Wis.,  from  1846  to  1850.  It 
was  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary  sheet  of  letter  paper. 

"The  Northern  Islander"  was  published  at  irregular  inter- 
vals, especially  after  the  close  of  navigation,  when  Beaver 
Island  was  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  From  May, 
1856,  until  the  assassination  of  the  King  two  months  later,  the 
royal  organ  was  printed  as  a  small  daily — a  marvel  of  journal- 
istic enterprise  that  surprised  passengers  on  the  boats  that 
entered  the  harbor  of  St.  James.  Of  the  papers  published  at 
Beaver  Island,  Chas.  J.  Strang  possesses  but  three  copies,  one 
of  the  weekly  issues  and  two  of  the  daily.  Wingfield  Watson, 
of  Spring  Prairie,  Wis;,  has  seventy-two  of  the  ninety  numbers 
of  the  "Islander;"  his  collection  is  believed  to  be/ the  nearest  to 
a  complete  file  in  existence.  He  declines  to  sell  at  any  price. 

The  "Weekly  Islander"  was  a  newspaper  of  four  pages,  five 
columns  to  the  page.  The  "Daily  Islander"  was  a  four- 


176  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

column  folio,  the  page  form  being  but  a  trifle  larger  than  that 
of  the  "Voree  Herald." 

The  "Herald"  was  devoted  almost  wholly  to  the  defense  of 
Strang's  claims  as  leader  of  the  Mormons.  The  "Islander"  was 
conducted  on  the  plan  of  a  general  newspaper,  but  devoted 
much  space  to  the  correspondence  of  traveling  missionaries. 
A  letter  from  George  Miller  mentions  "settling  those  saints  in 
the  south  that  were  making  lumber  in  Wisconsin  for  building 
the  temple  and  Nauvoo  House." 

The  conference  minutes  published  in  the  papers  show  that 
following  followers  of  Strang,  many  of  whom  had  been  high 
dignitaries  at  Nauvoo,  were  active  at  Voree  and  St.  James : 

Voree — Geo.  J.  Adams,  Wm.  Marks,  Gilbert  Watson, 
Daniel  Carpenter,  Ebenezer  Page,  D.  F.  Botsford,  Ira  J.  Pat- 
ten, Benjamin  G.  Wright,  Alden  Hale,  Roswell  Packard,  S.  P. 
Bacon,  Anson  W.  Prindle,  Dennis  Chidester,  Jehiel  Savage, 
Jason  W.  Briggs,  John  E.  Page,  Moses  Smith,  Lester  Brooks, 
Samuel  Bennett,  Samuel  Graham,  Wm.  Savage,  Samuel  E. 
Hull,  Phineas  Wright,  Isaac  Pierce,  Nathan  Wagener,  John 
Porter,  E.  Whitcomb,  James  Blakeslee,  Lorenzo  Dow  Hickey, 
Royal  Tucker,  P.  W.  Stilwell. 

St.  James  (In  addition  to  those  prominent  at  Voree — 
John  Ursbroek,  Hiram  G.  Hall,  Geo.  Brownson,  Edw.  Preston, 
Walter  Ostrander,  John  S.  Comstock,  C.  W.  Appleton,  James 
M.  Greig,  E.  J.  More. 

Besides  the  newspapers,  the  principal  publications  from 
Strang' s  press  were  these: 

i.  "Book  of  the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  claiming  to  be  an 
inspired  translation  of  plates  discovered  by  Strang.  First 
edition,  80  pages;  second  edition,  320  pages.  Following  is  the 
wording  on  the  title  page : 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  177 

The 
BOOK  OF  THE  LAW  OF  THE  LORD 

Consisting  of 

An  Inspired  Translation  of  Some  of  the  Most  Im- 
portant Parts  of  the  Law  Given  to  Moses, 
and  a  Very  Few  Additional  Command- 
ments, with  Brief  Notes  and 
References. 

PRINTED  BY   COMMAND   OF   THE   KING 

AT  THE  ROYAL  PRESS,  ST.  JAMES, 
A.  R.  I. 

From  the  preface : 

"Several  books  are  also  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  but  of 
equal  authority  with  it,  which  have  been  lost;  as  for  instance, 
another  epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthian  and  the  Ephesian 
churches,  and  the  books  of  Iddo,  Nathan  and  others,  prophets 
of  high  rank  in  Israel. 

"But  of  all  the  lost  books,  the  most  important  was  the  Book 
of  the  Law  of  the  Lord.  This  was  kept  in  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant, and  was  held  too  sacred  to  go  into  the  hands  of  strangers. 
When  the  Septuagint  translation  was  made,  the  Book  of  the 
Law  was  kept  back,  and  the  Book  lost  to  the  Jewish  nation  in 
the  time  that  they  were  subject  to  foreign  powers.  The 
various  books  in  the  Pentateuch,  containing  abstracts  of  some 
of  the  laws,  have  been  read  instead  of  it,  until  even  the  exist- 
ence of  the  book  has  come  to  be  a  matter  of  doubt. 

"It  is  from  an  authorized  copy  of  that  book,  written  on 
metallic  plates,  long  previous  to  the  Babylonish  captivity,  that 
this  translation  is  made." 

2.  "Collection  of  Sacred  Hymns  adapted  to  the  faith  and 
views  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  Latter-Day  Saints." 
Voree:  Gospel  Press,  1850.  Includes: 

'Glorious  things  of  Thee  are  spoken."     (Zion) 

'Lord,  dismiss  us  with  Thy  blessing."     (Dismission) 

'Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds."     (Fraternity) 

'Come,  ye  sinners,  poor  and  needy."    (Invitation) 

'Come,  let  us  anew,  our  journey  pursue."    (New  Year's  Resolve) 

'Blow  ye  the  trumpet,  blow."     (Gospel  Trumpet) 

'How  form  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord."     (Assurance) 

'Guide  us,  O  thou  great  Jehovah."     (Prayer) 

'Lord  in  the  morning  thou  shalt  hear."     (Morning) 


178  A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

The  general  tenor  of  the  hymns  may  be  gathered  from  fol- 
lowing sample  verses  from  Hymn  XLV: 

XLV.  Book  of  Mormon,  P.  M. 

1.  O,  who  that  has  search' d  the  records  of  old, 

And  read  the  last  scenes  of  distress; 
Four  and  twenty  were  left,  who  with  Mormon  beheld, 
While  their  nation  lay  mould' ring  to  dust. 

2.  The  Nephites  destroyed,  the  Lamanites  dwelt, 

For  ages  in  sorrow  unknown; 

Generations  have  pass'd,  till  the  Gentiles  at  last, 
Have  divided  their  lands  as  their  own. 

This  is  the  first  verse  of  Hymn  LXXIX : 

Ephraim's  records,  plates  of  gold, 
Glorious  things  to  us  unfold, 
Though  sealed  up  they  long  have  been, 
To  give  us  light  they  now  begin. 

3.  "Ancient  and  Modern  Michilimackinac,  including  an 
account    of    the    Controversy    between    Mackinac    and    the 
Mormons/'  1854.     Reprinted  by  Wingfield  Watson  in  1894. 

4.  "The  Diamond,  being  the  law  of  Prophetic  Succession 
and  a  Defense  of  the  Calling  of  James  J.  Strang  as  successor  to 
Joseph  Smith,  and  a  Full  Exposition  of  the  Law  of  God  Touch- 
ing the  Succession  of  Prophets  Holding  the  Presidency  of  the 
True  Church,  and  the  Proof  that  this  Succession  Has  Been 
Kept  Up."     Voree,  Wis.,  1848. 

5.  "Catholic   Controversy."     Very   scarce.     I   have  been 
unable  to  obtain  a  copy. 

6.  "Prophetic  Controversy."     St.  James,  1854. 


VIII. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

In   addition   to   the   Strang   publications,    manuscripts   to 
which  I  have  had  access  and  personal  letters  and  interviews, 


A  MOSES  OF  THE  MORMONS.  179 

following  printed  authorities  having  reference  to  Strang  have 
been  consulted  in  the  compilation  of  this  paper : 

"Revelations  of  James  J.  Strang,"  no  date;  compiled  by  Wingfield 
Watson. 

Chapter  on  "Spring  Prairie,"  in  "History  of  Walworth  County." 

Chapter  on  Beaver  Harbor  Mounds,  in  Smithsonian  annual  report  for 
1878. 

"An  American  Kingdom  of  Mormons,"  by  F.  D.  Leslie,  in  "Magazine  of 
Western  History,"  April,  1886. 

Chapter  on  "The  Scattered  Flock,"  in  "Early  Days  of  Mormonism,"  by 
J.  H.  Kennedy.  London,  1888. 

Chapter  on  "A  New  Prophet,"  in  "The  Prophet  of  Palmyra,"  by  Thos. 
Gregg.  New  York,  1890. 

Chapter  on  "Contest  for  the  Leadership,"  in  "Mysteries  and  Crimes  of 
Mormonism,"  by  J.  H.  Beadle.  Philadelphia,  1870. 

"The  Mormons,"  by  Lieut.  J.  W.  Gunnison.    Philadelphia,  1852. 

"An  American  King,"  in  "Harper's  Monthly  Magazine"  for  March,  1882. 

"Beaver  Island  and  its  Mormon  Kingdom,"  by  Chas.  J.  Strang  in  the 
"Little  Traverse  Bay  Souvenir."  Lansing,  1895. 

"History  of  the  Traverse  Region."    Chicago,  1884. 

"Candidates  for  the  Pontificate,"  in  Remy  &  Brenchley's  "Journey  to 
Great  Salt  Lake  City,"  Vol.  1.  London,  1861. 

"Sketch  of  James  Jesse  Strang,"  in  Vol.  XVIII.  Michigan  Pioneer  and 
Historical  Collections.  Lansing. 

Newspaper  articles  consulted: 

New  York  Tribune,  July  2,  1853.  (Letter  from  Strang  defending  the 
Beaver  Island  Mormons.) 

New  York  Times,  Sept.  3,  1882. 

Detroit  Free  Press,  June  30,  1889.  (Statement  of  King  Strang' s  assas- 
sination as  witnessed  by  Capt.  Alex.  St.  Barnard,  of  the  United  States 
steamer  Michigan.) 

Chicago  Tribune,  Oct.  2,  1892,  and  Oct.  13,  1895. 

Detroit  News,  July  1,  1882. 

Chicago  Illustrated  Journal,  January,  1873. 

Yenowine's  Illustrated  News,  Milwaukee,  June  24,  1888. 

Milwaukee  Sentinel,  May  6,  1892. 

Most  of  the  newspaper  articles  concerning  the  Beaver 
Island  kingdom  contain  gross  exaggerations. 


PARKMAN  CLUB  PUBLICATIONS. 


No.  1.  Nicholas  Perrot;  a  Study  in  Wisconsin  History.  By  Gard- 
ner P.  Stickney,  Milwaukee,  1895.  16  pp.  paper;  8vo. 

No.  2.  Exploration  of  Lake  Superior;  the  Voyages  of  Radisson  and 
Groseilliers.  By  Henry  Colin  Campbell,  Milwaukee, 

1896.  22  pp.,  paper;  8vo. 

No.    3.    Chevalier  Henry  de  Tonty;  His  Exploits  in  the  Valley  of 

the  Mississippi.    By  Henry  E.  Legler,  Milwaukee,  1896. 

22  pp.,  paper;  8vo. 
No.    4.    The  Aborigines  of  the  Northwest;  a  Glance  into  the  Remote 

Past.    By    Frank    T.    Terry,    Milwaukee,    1896.    14    pp., 

paper;  8vo. 
No.    5.    Jonathan  Carver;  His  Travels  in  the  Northwest  in  1766-8. 

By  John  G.   Gregory,  Milwaukee,   1896.    28  pp.,  1  plate, 

1  map,  paper;  8vo. 
No.    6     Negro  Slavery  in  Wisconsin.    By  Rev.  John  N,  Davidson, 

Milwaukee,  1896.    28  pp.,  paper;  8vo. 
No.    7.    Eleazer  Williams;  His  Forerunners,  Himself.    By  William 

Ward  Wight,  Milwaukee,  1896.    72  pp.,  portrait,  and  four 

appendices,  paper;  8vo. 

No.    8.    Charles  Langlade,    First  Settler  of  Wisconsin.    By  Mont- 
gomery E.  Mclntosh,  Milwaukee,  1896.    20  pp.,  paper;  8vo. 
No.    9.    The  German  Voter  in  Wisconsin  Politics  Before  the  Civil 

War.    By    Ernest    Bruncken,    Milwaukee,    1896.    14    pp., 

paper;  8vo. 

No.  10.    The  Polanders  in  Wisconsin.    By  Frank  H.  Miller,  Milwau- 
kee, 1896.    8  pp.,  paper;  8vo. 
No.  11.    Pere  Ren£  Menard,   the  Predecessor  of  Allouez  and  Mar- 

quette  in  the  Lake  Superior  Region.    By  Henry  Colin 

Campbell,   Milwaukee,  1897.    24  pp.,  paper;  8vo. 
No.  12.    George  Rogers  Clark  and  His  Illinois    Campaign.    By   Dan 

B.  Starkey,  Milwaukee,  1897.    38  pp.,  paper;  8vo. 
No.  13.    The  Use  of  Maize  by  Wisconsin  Indians.    By  Gardner  P. 

Stickney,    Milwaukee,    1897.    25  pp.,  paper;  8vo. 
No.  I*.    The  Land-Limitation  Movement.    A  Wisconsin  Episode  of 

1848-1851.    By    John    Goadby  Gregory.    Milwaukee,  1897. 

24  pp.,  paper:  8vo. 
\o    IT  ( A.  Moses  of  tne  Mormons.    By  Henry  E.  Legler.    Milwaukee, 

1897.  67  pp. ,  paper :  portrait,  four  illustrations,  appendices, 
' '        ^vo. 

IN   PREPARATION. 

Bruncken,  Ernest— The  German  Voter  in  Wisconsin  Politics. 
This  paper  will  include  the  period  of  the  Civil  War. 

Campbell,  Henry  Colin— Du  Luth,  the  Explorer. 

Davidson,  Rev.  John  Nelson— Underground  Railway  Stations  in 
Wisconsin. 

Kelly,  Frederick  W.— Local  Government  in  Wisconsin. 

La  Boule,  Rev.  Joseph  S. — Allouez,  the  Father  of  Wisconsin 
Missions. 

Legler,  Henry  E.— Wisconsin  Nomenclature. 

Mclntosh,  Montgomery  E.— CoSperative  Communities  in 
Wisconsin. 

Starkey,  Dan  B.— The  Fox- Wisconsin  Waterway. 

Stickney,  Gardner  P.— An  Historical  Consideration  of  the  Beaver. 

Wight,  William  Ward— Joshua  Glover,  the  Fugitive  Slave. 


An  inrlpx  to  the  Club's  publications  during  1896  has  been  issued. 


PUBLICATION  COMMITTEE— Henry  Colin  Campbell,  Henry  E.  Leg- 
ler and  John  G.  Gregory. 

The  Parkman  Club  was  organized  December  10th,  1895,  for  study 
of  the  history  of  the  Northwest.  A  limited  number  of  copies  of  each 
publication  are  set  aside  for  sale  and  exchange.  Single  copies  are 
sold  at  the  uniform  price  of  25  cents,  and  the  annual  subscription 
(ten  numbers)  is  placed  at  $2.00. 

Correspondence  may  be  addressed, 

GARDNER  P.  STICKNEY,  Secretary, 

427  Bradford  Street,  MILWAUKEE,  Wis. 


